Ray H. Church, Ogden, Utah: an interview by Winston P. Erickson, June 12, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 39

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RAY H. CHURCH RAY: We came here in 1991. WIN: As you look back on that harrowing and sometimes it mu t h unbearable and interminable experience in the war, how do you think that xp r1 nc affected your life? Do you think it changed the direction you went or would you hav done something similar had you not been in the war? RAY: I've thought about that, talked about that. I was lucky for two reasons. I was raised on a farm and was used to hard work. I used to get up in the morning to do chores before school and so forth. So when we got in prison camp, I was accustomed to that kind of stuff a little more than some others. Some of the fellows that were from the cities, a lot of them would break; they weren't accustomed to these things. And I could improvise more. We had a cow come in one time. I sent someone to get a bucket and we held this cow. I got enough milk, some for myself, and a bucket before I got caught. If I had been some other person, I couldn't have done that, so I figured it helped me. But I will tell you one thing-if this thing hadn't happened-it really, really made me think. One of the fellows brought a little flag, a small flag, and he took the handle off and he wrapped it and put it in his clothes so that when he got searched, they would miss it. He would get in camp and every once in a while, I don't know, he would take the flag out and he would hold it up, and he'd say, "God bless America." Some guys would start bawling and some guys would salute, and they would put a signal out, and when they'd see the flag, they would be careful what they did. They felt that urge to survive. Some guys, some of us, 31