Thirteen Months and Thirteen Days

"A lot has happened during these past twelve months. Things that I will remember all the rest of my life." Cpl. John Sullivan wrote these words from Stalag II B in January 1945. The worst was yet to come. Like thousands of other POWs in German controlled territory, Cpl. Sullivan would endure a forced march away from the advancing Allied Armies in brutal winter weather, with no certain prospect of shelter, food, or clean water. True to his word, he did remember his time as POW 8534. And like many Veterans of World War II he didn't share those memories often. More than a half century after the War's end, while facing the advance of Alzheimer's disease, he opened up to his son with details about his time in Italy, Austria, Germany, and the journey home to Wilmington, Del. Thirteen Months and Thirteen Days is one POW's story. His story.