Russell Rhyne -- Prisoner of War

Russell Rhyne died May 6, 2003, but his story of being a prisoner of war has never been told. Russ told these things to my husband, Charles Foreman, who was the rural carrier at the Walker post office while Russ was postmaster. We want to share them in memory of all those untold stories of prisoners of war.

It was a beautiful spring morning at the Walker post office, but Russ said he had seen a prettier one. He was in a German prison camp during World War II and had been there some time. They had been hearing artillery fire and knew the Allied forces were getting close. In fact, they feared the prison might be bombed. One morning an American observation plane flew over. The plane dipped its wings giving them hope that they knew the POWs were there. Then they saw some men on horses coming and they weren't Germans. They were Russian soldiers and they threw ropes over the gates and pulled them down. Russ wasn't able to walk, but the soldiers that could ran to a nearby village to get anything they could to eat. They grabbed chickens and ate them raw, but they remembered Russ and brought him back a raw bloody chicken. It was awful, but he ate it as he was almost starved and down to 88 pounds.

Russ said that he was taken prisoner somewhere in Western Europe and marched toward Russia so if they got away it would be further for them to rejoin their units. It was winter and they marched them so long their old shoes gave way and they all had frostbite on their feet. Many dropped along the way and never got up.

The compound where they were held was split with a fence in the middle with the Russian POW's on one side and the Americans on the other. They were housed in shacks and just had a few cracks to peer through. The Germans had plenty of food, but they wouldn't give the POWs anything except hardtack bread and water. Each morning they were made to come out and line up to be counted while the Germans went through the barracks and pulled out those that had starved or froze to death. The POWs noticed the Russians on the other side of the fence -- there were always three of them -- real close together, arm-to-arm. But when it warmed up, they quit coming that way. He found out that they had been bringing a corpse so they could get his food ration, but the warmer weather put a stop to that. Once, after the Germans had a big meal, they made a POW go bury the potato peelings. After dark, he tried to sneak out to dig them up and they shot him. Several times, the Germans had big parties and brought tables outside piled with food. After they ate their fill, they made the POWs bury the food and wouldn't allow them to eat any.

After liberation, Russ spent some time in a hospital before he returned home, but he suffered the rest of his life with leg problems and couldn't walk on uneven ground.

Albert Russell Rhyne was born in December 1925 in Seventy-six, a small town which no longer exists. It was located in the east central part of Missouri on the Mississippi River. His parents were Luther Earl and Nancy Ann Rhyne. Russ grew up in southeast Kansas where his father worked on the railroad. In 1942, Russell began work for the Fox Midwest Theaters. He managed all their theaters in Springfield before moving to Booneville and later to Brookfield where he continued to manage the Fox theaters at these locations. Russ served in the U.S. Army from June 1944 to Nov. 23, 1945. Russell and his wife, Norma lived in Nevada after March 1957, and had a daughter, Mary, and a son, Rusty. In 1959, Russell began his career with the U.S. Postal Service as a substitute clerk at the Nevada, Mo., post office. On Oct. 31, 1971, he was named officer-in-charge at the Walker post office and appointed as postmaster in 1972. He retired in 1985. He was active in Walker community projects and was instrumental in acquiring a senior citizen housing complex in Walker. Russell and his wife, Norma were members of the United Methodist Church in Nevada.

The debt that we owe our military heroes can never be repaid, but we can give them honor and respect and remember why they served.