WWII POWs

I have been doing some research with regard to WWII as of late.  One work that I'm preparing for is to be based in that time period.  One of my main characters will be following the path that the 157th regiment of the 45th Infantry Division took from induction until the end of the war.

Through my research, I discovered that the 45th spent some time at Fort Drum.  As a result, I've had to do more research with regard to that post, only to discover that it had been a POW camp during the war.  During that time, there were 6 German and 2 Italian POWs that died.  As I understand it, all but one died of natural causes.  One of the Italian soldiers drowned in the pond on post.

Spurred by curiosity, I did some digging to discover that all of the soldiers, except one, who was shipped home, are buried locally.  With a little bit of digging, I found out exactly where and hubby and I drove there to pay our respects this morning.

As a military spouse, I can only imagine what the families of the soldiers must have experienced.  What would I have felt like, had my husband been taken as a POW, only to die on foreign soil?

Here are pictures I found of the grave sites, and the article where I found my best bits of information.

While we humans may divide ourselves from one another by states, regions, countries, etc, we are all the same.  We, quite often, go through the same experiences throughout our lifetimes.  So, when I see the ravages of past wars, my heart goes out to the soldiers and their families, no matter what nationality they may be.