Former POW's react to Iraqi prisoner abuse

On the home front, former Green Country soldiers talk about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. It's an issue that strikes a chord with some Tulsans, because they were also prisoners of war. <br/><br/>News

Thursday, May 13th 2004, 11:20 am

By: News On 6

On the home front, former Green Country soldiers talk about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. It's an issue that strikes a chord with some Tulsans, because they were also prisoners of war.

News on 6 anchor Terry Hood says a breakfast club has met every Thursday morning for the last three years at a Tulsa donut shop. They share friendship and a terrible bond. These veterans served in World War II and Korea and all but one of them were prisoners of war.

They were captured by different enemies in different countries. But they say the experience they share makes them more than friends, they're family. And like many families in America right now, they're upset and enraged by some of pictures from Iraq. Cletys Nordin fought in eight major battles in the Korean War. He took shrapnel in the leg the day he was captured. And was forced to walk more than 600 miles in temperatures that dipped to 40 below zero.

He says the pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse should have never been released. "The American people should not have been subjected to this crap until all the investigation was done; the guilty party was determined; and they brought em to justice."

Several of these former POW's say what the American soldiers did was wrong and they should be punished. But one says this scandal is probably bigger than that.