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Film tells of WWII POWs, raises funds for wounded warriors

"These men have fought for us, and now guys, it's time for us to fight for them. It doesn't matter what age you are, you can start now." - Ted DiBiase Jr

Therese Apel
Clarion Ledger
Members of the Jackson Prep drama club, dressed in their costume for next week's M*A*S*H production, speak with WWII POW Earl Derrington of Vicksburg.

There were so many stories in that room -- some told, some yet to be told, and some that will forever remain untold.

There were the stories of Earl Derrington and Erwin Johnson, two WWII prisoners of war there in attendance with their wives, and the POW wife who came alone because her war hero husband had passed away.

The story of Jan Thompson, whose father was a POW in a Japanese camp during WWII. After helping clean out a trunk of his belongings, she realized that his story and those of men like him still needs to be told so it won't fade away. So she spent 20 years interviewing POWs for a documentary of the horrors and tragedies they endured, and the strength, courage, and sometimes sheer luck that designated the survivors. Her film, "Never the Same," was shown to the group in Jackson this weekend, and now she hopes to show that film in Japan.

The story of the Warrior Bonfire Project, an organization that helps Purple Heart veterans re-acclimate to civilian life by giving them an outlet to talk about the things they can never unsee and the noise it has left in their heads and hearts. They help wounded warriors find purpose and clarity, and often it saves their lives.

The influential people who were there at the Hilton on County Line on Saturday to help further both projects. People like Loretta Swit, also known as Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the long-running television show M*A*S*H; WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr. who worked with the Army National Guard during this time in show business, and his business partner Nick Coughlin, who has competed on reality shows and worked on the set of the Fantastic Four, which will come out in August.

Earl Derrington, a WWII POW of the Nazi German camps, speaks with filmmaker Jan Thompson, whose father was a POW in the Japanese camps during WWII.

And those the speakers referred to as "the future." The Jackson Prep drama team who came to learn about the POWs, support the Warrior Bonfire Project, and who are doing M*A*S*H as their school play on Friday, Saturday, and Monday. They left the event knowing that there were once people not much older than them who had to take incredibly drastic measures just to get home to their families.

"I have no reason to complain now. If they can get through that and still have happy lives, there's no excuse for my not doing it," said Tyler Wann, a Prep student. "Being almost 18 years old, I don't know if I could do something like that. It's incredible how selfless that was."

Gregor Petty was also there with the Prep drama club. He said he hadn't realized just how important it is that the stories of war heroes like the POWs keep being told.

"My grandfather fought in WWI and WWII. He was too young to fight in WWI but he lied about his age, and he ws too old to fight in WWII, but he lied about his age again," Petty said. "It was absolutely amazing that they weren't thinking, 'I'm too young, it's not my problem.' They were thinking, 'I'm young enough, I'm strong enough, and I can fight.'"

Thompson said she had grown up with questions about her father's experiences. He was a rough man, she said, and she was afraid to ask many of those questions, even into her adulthood. Working on the film and doing the research starting in the early 1990s, she said she found a little insight into his grief and trauma.

"He kept a lot of this in, and what came to me was that he was a medic... and he couldn't do anything to help those men who were dying right in front of him," she said. "He saw at least 1,000 men die horrible deaths, and I think that's ultimately what scarred him the most was to be so helpless."

The movie, which features interviews with 25 prisoners of war, detailed how many of the men had survived the Bataan death march, the POW camps and the atrocities there, and then were packed into boats where they faced starvation, exposure, and American bombers who didn't know they were there.

"It had to take this project for me to completely understand what he had gone through. I think he tried to protect me, and I think a lot of dads tried to protect their children when they got back because they didn't want to try to explain how horrible war can be and how cruel it can be," Thompson said. "There's no way you can describe this to someone who's young. It's man's inhumanity to man."

Former WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr of Clinton is now an advocate for veterans, and helped put on a fundraiser for the Warrior Bonfire Project on Saturday.

That's something that affects warfighters from every conflict, Swit said.

"It's horrific to see your buddy blown to bits right next to you. We don't really have the neurons to really deal with that well," she said. "When they come back, if they come back they're never the same. It's like trying to put a shattered glass together, so however long that takes, you still have a shattered glass. We can't really understand. We can try, but you can't really wrap your brain around what they suffered and what they endured."

Derrington said he felt blessed that he had a strong family and strong faith from which he could draw the courage to keep going in captivity.

"When you find that basis for yourself, it gives you a lot of strength to keep going and be motivated," he said. "I was determined I was going to go home, and as I said a while ago, adversity gives you the motion to move on."

DiBiase told the group that he has become an advocate for service members and veterans after spending time with them and coming to some understanding of the struggles they face.

"We can never forget this. My children and your children, they need to understand why we're the greatest country in the world," he said. "That's what this is about. These men have fought for us, and now guys, it's time for us to fight for them. It doesn't matter what age you are, you can start now."

Learn more about the Warrior Bonfire Project at their website.
More information on "Never The Same" can be found on its website.

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.