Video: Veteran at CLC recalls being captured in World War II
World War II veteran and former prisoner of war Bernard Edelman spoke of the day he was captured in February 1943.
"A German infantry man came up, put a gun on my back, and said, 'For you, the war is over,'" the 98-year-old Lincolnshire resident told the crowd gathered Friday at the College of Lake County in Grayslake.
Edelman, the keynote speaker during CLC's annual Veterans Day ceremony, was in Tunisia with the 1st Armored Division of the U.S. Army and was tending to wounds of a lieutenant when he was captured.
He shared his frightening experience of being captured more than 70 years ago and recounted the two years he spent in a German prison camp during his talk to about 100 people who attended the ceremony.
The patriotic gathering honored those who have served in the U.S. military and featured U.S. Navy, CLC speakers and members of the Great Lakes Navy band "Fair Winds."
In addition, CLC held a four-hour Veteran and Military Welcome Home Benefit Fair co-sponsored by the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center.
A luncheon was served in Room C003 after the ceremony.