Today was a very somber day. We went to the Andersonville, GA POW Memorial. This is the former Civil War Confederate POW prison. It is now a memorial to POWs of all wars. There were artifacts, photographs, drawings, films and recordings from many POW up to and including the Gulf War. Andersonville Prison itself was built to accommodate 10,000 prisoners and ended up holding more than 32,000 prisoners at one time. 42,000 prisoners were here at one time or another and 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding or exposure. At one time, over 100 a day were dying. They had "death buildings" where they placed the bodies before burial. Since so many were dying, they stopped burying them in pine boxes and just lining them up in ditches. The headstones showed this by one abutting against the next and so on, instead of a distance between them. The town of Andersonville is nearby the old prison site. It seems like a sleepy, old southern town. Our truck was maybe the newest thing we saw there. So many gave so much so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we do have and it brings home heavily the cost of our freedom. Many paid the ultimate price and many are still paying. God Bless You All, Jim and Carol
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