BlueOregon: I am a daughter of torture

[Robbien]

By Candy Neville of Eugene, Oregon

I am a daughter of torture. In World War II, my father was a POW who survived the Bataan Death March. Only one in ten did. Even fewer survived their internment. He endured 44 months in a concentration camp in the Phillipines and he witnessed and experienced torture. Willie Monroe Odden stood almost 6 feet tall and weighed under 90 pounds when he was liberated from his imprisonment. Unfortunately he was never liberated from the suffering and his acute suffering was inflicted upon us – his family. It was his and our constant companion.

My father was a survivor. He had absolute faith in his country and believed for each day of the By Candy Neville of Eugene, Oregon

44 months that he would be brought home. Eventually he was. He told us little – a few stories over and over again. He repeatedly tried to contact a reporter. None interviewed him. He had a huge desire for the world to know. He knew the world would be outraged. There was no designation of Post Traumatic Stress, no programs to deal with it. So he developed his own:

Alcohol, pain relievers, breaking chairs and furniture against the walls, waking and screaming in the night as he gasped for air through an open window and ranted, “I’m dying. I’m dying.” In many ways, he already had. I did not know him before the war and took this ranting maniac who was a good businessman “as is”.

I was proud that he had served, had survived and was very proud of my country that we did not engage in the excruciating activity called torture. I was proud our soldiers were not trained and shamed in such pursuits.

I am horrified that Dick Cheney goes around touting torture and citizens actually ponder and consider it’s value. It is the tactic that keeps on giving sorrow, shame, pain, nightmares. It hounds the tortured and the torturer to their death. It is the tactic that contradicts all sane options of future peace. My family could so easily want to give torture back when confronted by an enemy. It is useless, blasphemous and insidious. Announcing to the world that we will torture enemies we catch, endangers our troops and our citizens. Each of us must stand and speak against this horrendous national sin.

http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/08/i-am-a-daughter-of-torture-.html?cid=6a00d8341c2c3f53ef0115725074e3970b


A very powerful essay.

[Hissyspit]

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