Last month I learned of the passing of the 93-year-old brother of Lexingtonian Alice Asbill.

Alice said that her brother had been a POW in the Korean war and that he had written a book about his captivity in North Korea.

I said that I would like to read it and she found her only copy on the shelf and entrusted it to me.

The name of the book is Korean P.O.W. 1,000 Days of Torment, by William Funchess, Jr.

He was born in Rowesville, SC and was a graduate of Orangeburg High and Clemson University.

He was a First Lieutenant with the 24th Infantry Division and was among the first combat troops sent to Korea in 1950.

On November 4, 1950, Funches and his platoon were overrun by Chinese Communists who had entered the war to help the North Koreans.

Caught behind enemy lines, machine-gun fire killed most of his men.

After being shot in the foot, he and several GI’s were captured.

William’s book was published in 1997 when he was 69 years old.

The book chronicles the horrendous treatment the POWs received at the hands of their captors:

30 men being held in a single small room, no medical care for wounds, totally unsanitary conditions, surviving starvation on millet seed.

What struck me in reading the book was the sheer ability of William to be able to relive in his mind all that he experienced.

I believe that the strength of his character and his faith in God is what allowed him to survive.

After the war, Funchess had a distinguished career in agriculture, working for Clemson, then Edgefield and Allendale counties.

In 2002 he was awarded the Palmetto Cross, the highest award given by the South Carolina Military Department.

In 2018 he was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor bestowed on citizens of South Carolina.

Next Week: Outsmart your opponent