TULSA -- Several gathered to honor service men and women Missing in Action and Prisoners of War on Friday.
It is at Post 577 where many reflected on one Oklahoma man's story that restores what it means to be an American.
His name is Bill Grisez, a World War II POW, who was held in captivity for two and a half years, but it’s what he kept hidden from the Germans under his shirt that had people in awe.
Friday afternoon, veterans gathered at Post 577 to commemorate national MIA/POW day in our nation. The song, “God Bless America,” echoed across the room. Each word, ringing true for Grisez, a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne during WWII.
“July 9th, 1943, we made our jump on Sicily,” Grisez said. “That was the invasion of Eurpoe."
Four-hundred men, picked at random, chose honor over fear that day, descending behind enemy lines. The mission? To secure the airport there.
The soldiers, holding on to a promise of relief the following day.
“Well, the next day showed, and we were 90 to 95 percent casualty battalion,” Grisez recalls, as tears fill his eyes. “We found the Germans and they found us."
The U.S. soldiers were surrounded by an army of 70,000 Germans.
“Pretty soon a German soldier was right behind me with a bayonet sticking in my back,” Grisez said.
He, along with surviving battalion members, was taken to a German war camp, to suffer torment for the next two and a half years. But Grisez never let the thought of freedom die, by crafting something so illegal, it could cost him his life… the American flag.
“I had to,” he said. “I had to have something like that."
He kept it hidden from the enemy under his tattered clothing, day in and day out.
“I was hoping it means salvation and getting out of Germany,” he laughed.
Salvation finally came two and a half years later, after Grisez was forced to march hundreds of miles during a brutal winter.
“There was only 12 of us, and I only know 4 of us that finished,” Grisez said.
That American flag was still tucked away inside his shirt when he saw his first sign of freedom, an American soldier.
“He said where the hell have you all been? And I said where the hell have you been the last 2 years?!"
As Grisez reflects back on those night skies, illuminated by enemy fire, he sees a young soldier, choosing honor over fear.
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