More than a dozen World War II POWs in San Diego were treated on Wednesday at Ultrastar Cinema in Mission Valley to a private screening of the movie "Unbroken."
The film is based on the life of the late Louis Zamperini, an Olympian and a war hero who survived 47 days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean after his bomber crashed before being captured by the Japanese. He endured two years of harsh treatment as a prisoner of war.
“I think we were fortunate to live through it, and that’s what Zamperini did, too,” said Ralph Kling, a fighter pilot and prisoner of war during World War II.
“I flew P-47 Thunderbolts. I flew two missions before D-Day and 66 after,” Kling said.
Kling’s plane was shot down over Luxembourg on Sept. 21, 1944. When he was able to walk again, he said he spent a week marching through two feet of snow and riding in box cars on trains to get to a prison camp. He said he nearly starved to death.
“We knew that that’s the march where you carry what you could to eat off of, and we got no German food for those four days, and then one meal after that, and then we were on trains for three days,” Kling said.
Robert Farner was an infantry Marine in World War II when he was captured by the Japanese on May 6, 1942.
“I call it three-and-a-half years in hell,” Farner said. “I’m lucky to be alive.”
Just like Zamperini, Farner said he was tortured. His first beating came after he was caught picking a papaya from a tree.
“Here comes this (Japanese) sergeant now with about a 5-foot iron bar,” Farner said, “and started beating right across the back. And I thought, 'Oh, you broke my back and knocked me out.'”
Air corpsman Francis Burger’s plane was shot down over Poland on Oct. 13, 1944. The 96-year-old said POWs share a special bond.
"We prisoner .... is always a prisoner,” Burger said.
The movie event began with a color guard ceremony and the singing of the National Anthem. Ultrastar Cinema provided the group with free admission and refreshments.
