×

Humble heroes: VA salutes POWS

John Kusmitch of Kingsford, center, receives a care package Friday commemorating National POW/MIA Recognition Day at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain. At left is Karen Thekan, a patient advocate and past POW/MIA advocate for the VA center, while at right is Andrea Collins, associate director for nursing and patient care. The package included a POW/MIA fleece sweater, ball cap and pin, as well as letters of recognition from Medical Center Director Jim Rice and local Congressional representative. Kusmitch, now 89, was only 20 years old when taken prisoner in April 1953 during the Korean War; he’d spend 28 months in captivity. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — After losing a friend to an accident while serving during the Korean War, motor transport operator John Kusmitch volunteered for combat duty.

In April 1951, he and others in the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division found themselves behind enemy lines as 700,000 Chinese soldiers attacked U.N. forces as part of the Spring Offensive. Separated, disoriented — “mixed up,” as he described it Friday — Kusmitch wound up being captured April 26, 1951.

He’d spend more than two years in a prison camp 8 miles from the Chinese border before finally being freed Aug. 13, 1953, in a prisoner exchange. He’d return to Crystal Falls to learn his father had died while he was in captivity.

Almost seven decades later, Kusmitch was honored Friday outside the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center on National POW/MIA Recognition Day. At 89, he is the among only three surviving former prisoners of war within the Oscar G. Johnson center’s “catchment area,” said Karen Thekan, a patient advocate and past POW/MIA advocate for the VA center, adding that at one point the region had roughly 75 veterans who had been prisoners.

She characterized all of the POWs she’s worked with as “so humble.”

John Moddie reads one of the citations he received as part of the POW/MIA Recognition Day package he received. (Department of Veterans Affairs photo)

“They didn’t seek recognition … they just feel like it’s what they had to do, the experience they had to endure,” Thekan said. “It’s what they did to serve their country.”

Another surviving former POW, 95-year-old John Moddie, now is a resident at the VA’s community living center. He served with the Army’s 590th Field Artillery when he was taken prisoner in December 1944 during the World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.

Though wounded by shrapnel, he was marched along with others for three days, with the Germans shooting those who could not keep up. Moddie was sent to Stalag 9-B camp in central Germany, where in 4 1/2 months the harsh conditions and treatment would see him dwindle from 150 pounds to about 85, according to biographical information provided by the VA center. He and others gained their freedom one morning when they awoke to find the German staff gone and the gates open.

Back in the states, Moddie said he’d spend a year in business college and have “a lot of different jobs,” including at a Green Bay paper mill, before coming back to the area to work in construction.

Though unable to come out and join Kusmitch, Moddie was treated Friday to a meal of steak and shrimp. Both men were presented with a care package that included a POW/MIA fleece sweater, ball cap and pin, as well as letters of recognition from Medical Center Director Jim Rice and local Congressional representative.

“They endured uncertainties, deprivation and hardships of hostile captivity; something that very few Americans can relate to,” Rice said in a written statement. “However, we are extremely grateful and indebted to these heroes.”

The third known surviving POW, Robert Smith of Hartland, Wis., was with the U.S. Army’s 4th Armored Division when he was captured on Good Friday 1945 during a POW rescue mission. He was not present Friday.

Like Moddie, Kusmitch eventually settled on construction as a trade, starting in Chicago and moving to Iron Mountain in 1959, he said. He now makes his home in Kingsford. While he lost a son in 1993 and his wife, Ellen, in 2012, Kusmitch said he has three daughters and a son remaining. He still gets around in his truck, though he needs a walker these days.

Thekan’s “humble” label for the former POWs proved true, as Kusmitch turned back to talking about the VA center rather than himself.

“I appreciate what they do,” he said of the VA center, “the treatment they give.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today