Event honors POWs
By Kelli Lacey
Staff writer
After jumping out of the burning
airplane, leaving five members of his
crew behind, Dale Channey looked
back and saw nothing. He was the last
one to escape.
He spent the next 15 months hun
gry, dirty and scared in Europe, some
times without food or water.
Channey told his story at the sec
ond annual prisoners-of-war/missing
in-action commemorative ceremony
held Thursday night at the Memorial
Gardens in Antelope Park.
The event was sponsored by the
Arnold Air Society, an Air Force ROTC
honorary society at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
Along with Channey’s story, the
ceremony included a Pershing Rifle
Ceremony and four other speakers,
each representing a military branch.
Carlie Potts, the society’s public
affairs representative, said the ceremo
ny honored POWs and soldiers missing
in action. Today is National POW/MIA
Day, as declared by President Clinton.
“This is very important to remind
people that there are still people out
there who are missing in action,” Potts
said. “To show what these people have
done for our country so we could be
here and have freedom.”
Channey, a World War II survivor,
had recently celebrated his 21st birth
«--—
I’ve never seen a more beautiful thing... than
the Stars and Stripes
Dale Channey
World War II survivor
day when his B-17 plane, in which he
served as wastegunner, was shot down
in Italy on Jan. 30, 1944.
“We were attacked, and our plane
was hit and knocked out of formation,”
he said. “We lost a lot of altitude.”
The plane descended when there
was an explosion in the front of the
plane. The intercom system went out,
and all Channey said he could think of
was how they were going to escape.
There were only five parachutes on
board and 10 crew members.
“I was the last one out,” he said. “I
kept looking for more parachutes but
none appeared.”
They landed, were captured and
were taken into custody. The next two
weeks were spent in solitary confine
ment in a prison camp in Lithuania
near the Baltic Sea, he said.
Over the next year and a half.
Channey spent time in several different
prisoner camps.
Some, he said, were better than oth
ers. At one camp he was not able to take
a shower, change his clothes or brush
his teeth, he said.
“We were loaded up with lice by
the time we were done,” he said.
When the war ended in 1945, he
crossed a bridge and saw the U.S. flag.
“I looked at (the Nazi swastika) flv
ing over a pole for 15 months. I’ve
never seen a more beautiful thing in my
life than the Stars and Stripes when I
walked across the river,” Channey said.
After pausing a moment to wipe
his teared-filled eyes, he said, “It was
the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”
Angela Weber, an organizer of the
ceremony, said it was a tradition the
group hoped to continue.
“Everyone does a ceremony for
Veteran’s Day and for Memorial Day,”
Weber said. “This is a day that we ded
icate to POWs only. It’s very important
that we remember them distinctly.”
After many years of blocking
memories, Channey got involved with
the Lincoln Chapter of Ex-Prisoners of
War, a national organization.
“It just made life easier (to talk
about it),” he said. “If we don’t get out
and get a story told, it’s going to be
lost.”
Speaker critiques
Europe, U.S. relations
By Shane Pekny
Staff writer
In the coming years, the United
States and Europe may have a compli
cated relationship, Walter McDougall
said Thursday.
McDougall, a University of
Pennsylvania history professor, gave a
speech, “Atlanticism, the New Atlantis:
Euro-American Reveries and
Realities,” Thursday afternoon at the
Lied Center for Performing Arts.
It wSsthe first lectiue of this years
E.N. Thompson Forum on World
Issues.
McDougall spoke mostly of the
developing European Union and what
strategies the United States will use in
relating to it.
The United States wants the
European Union to be a strong military
ally and trading partner but fears the
European Union may become too pow
erful, replacing the United States as the
world’s top player in international poli
tics, McDougall said.
The changing role of NATO is con
tributing to those fears, he said.
The military alliance was originally
formed to oppose a Soviet threat, but
with the collapse of the Soviet Union,
NATO finds itself in an awkward situa
tion, he said.
The United States wants NATO to
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continue operating in its present torm
because that gives the United States a
he;t\ y hand in international relations, he
said.
But the European Union no longer
wants to depend on the U.S. military to
manage European problems. These two
objectives will likely put the United
States and the European Union at odds,
he said.
After his speech, McDougall
answered questions from the audience
for half an hour. During the question
and-answer session, McDougall criti
cized the United Nations for its recent
mission in East Timor. He said it was
dangerous to sponsor a vote and then
fail to provide security to voters.
“It was immoral,” McDougall
added.
He also criticized NATO for inter
vening in Kosovo. It is always wrong to
interfere in the domestic issues of a sov
ereign state, even if the motives are
purely humanitarian, McDougall said.
“What business does the U.S. have
in the Baltics?” he asked.
McDougall said he is interested in
watching the future of the world unfold.
“International politics is a great
spectator sport. It’s better than football.
It’s more fun and certainly more impor
tant.”
The next speaker in the E.N.
Thompson series will be Desmond
Tutu, Archbishop and Nobel Prize
Laureate, of Emory University. He will
speak on Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m. at the Lied
Center.
Bradley:
Allow gays
in military
WASHINGTON (AP) - Gays
should be protected by the landmark
1964 Civil Rights Act and allowed to
serve openly in the military, Bill
Bradley said in a magazine interv iew
released Thursday.
On the question of a California anti
gay-marriage ballot initiative, Bradley
also aligned himself more closely - and
more readily - with the gay communi
ty’s legislative agenda than Vice
President A1 Gore.
Both Democratic presidential can
didates are dueling for the influential
gay and lesbian vote.
“If I was a voter in California, I
would not support the Knight initia
tive,” Bradley told The Advocate, a gay
and lesbian newsmagazine, in a pub
lished interview due on newsstands
Sept. 28.
“I think it’s divisive and ... I don’t
think a referendum is the place for this
kind of an initiative.”
The former New Jersey senator said
he still opposes same-sex marriage
because of “the religious nature of mar
riage and respect for the diversity of
views on that subject.”
In a separate interview published
last month, Gore told The Advocate he
needed to educate himself on the so
called Knight measure on California’s
March 2000 ballot, which would def ne
marriage as between a man and woman
only.
His campaign press secretary,
Kikki Moore, said late Thursday Gore
has decided to oppose Knight.
“Consider him educated,” she said.
Bradley and Gore support legal
protections for “domestic partners.”
Going further than Gore’s push for
a pending anti-job-discrimination bill,
Bradley said he would add sexual orien
tation to die 1964 act broadly outlawing
racial, religious and sex discrimination
in employment, housing, lending and
public accommodations.
“That would clearly indicate that
discrimination against gays is in the
same category as discrimination
against other protected groups,
Bradley said.
