NEWTON — Lee Suiter said he was skin and bones after his confinement during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, where he survived four and a half months on poorly made soup and dark German bread before his rescue.
But it was a burning feeling that he said overtook him on Wednesday when he stood before veterans and their families at a ceremony in Newton’s Gazebo Park and watched the black and white Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag raised in his and others’ honor.
Tears swelled as he remembered his platoon leader, who was killed in the attack in which Suiter was captured.
Suiter also thought of the late Chief Warrant Officer 3 Donald Clark of Newton, who was killed Nov. 15, 2008, when his OH-58 Kiowa helicopter crashed while on mission in Mosul, Iraq.
“We must stand up and we must be free. ... I’m so grateful there are still soldiers who won’t stand down,” Suiter said.
“War is not like it used to be. We used to fight against nations. Now, we fight against radicals. Of what nations or groups they might belong to, we don’t know,” he said.
C.J. Watson, post commander of the VFW Chapter 3073 in Dothan, said she organized the event at the park to raise awareness of the POW-MIA flag and to pay tribute to Clark.
Clark’s wife, Jamie, and his young son, Bailey, helped plant the maple tree.
“One of my biggest fears was that the sacrifice made Nov. 15, 2008, would be forgotten. (But) as this tree grows, so will the awareness of freedom,” Mrs. Clark said.
And so as the tree grows, will people like 11-year-old Lily Watson and 8-year-old Emma Watson also remember the Clark family, the girls asked.
“Mr. Don was like our uncle. Bailey is one of my best friends,” Lily said. “We won’t forget him.”
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