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even of simple survival. So would be the discipline necessary to carry out the articles of the code of conduct. Since the population of a POW camp could be comprised of men from various services branches, the senior leader would be the highest-ranking officer no matter what his organization. The mantle of leadership would move to the next highest rank, or precedence, if the commander of a group was incapacitated or unable to act for any reason.
    In article five of the code, the basic information that a prisoner is allowed to give the enemy is spelled out. The term name, rank, and serial number has been embodied in article five, including the date of birth of the prisoner to complete the identification. This is all that a prisoner can be expected to give and still be considered to have not cooperated with the enemy. According to the Geneva Convention, a prisoner cannot be tortured, physically or mentally, in order to gain more than this basic information.
    Oral or written statements, confessions, and appeals to other prisoners or audiences are not allowed. This would mean that a POW cannot take part in propaganda recordings or broadcasts. If they are forced to take part in such actions, they are to resist, limiting their cooperation to the least practical amount.
    If a prisoner is tortured, he is to resist to the best of his ability. Such resistance is an individual thing; no two people hold the same tolerance to pain or psychological tortures. Injuries, malnutrition, and lack of sleep lower the ability of someone to hold out against additional tortures. But a soldier is to hold out for as long as he can; if he does break, cooperation should be kept to a minimum.
    As in article one, article six reminds the individual that he is part of something greater. He is a soldier and is expected to act like one, whether on the battlefield or in the prison camp. He is responsible for his own actions; each must assist the others in surviving the ordeal of being a prisoner of war.

[CHAPTER 4]
    A START
    Born in the early 1930s, John Dramesi grew up in a time that saw the United States gear up for war unlike any other period in history. As so many young boys during World War II, the adventures of flying were never far from his mind. Airplanes filled his night sky. Balsa wood models he had built hung from the ceiling in his room. There were so many models, his mother said that you needed a traffic cop just to go into the room.
    As the model planes moved with the air currents, John could imagine himself piloting the real craft through the sky. But the reality of just what the aircraft he would fly someday would be like was beyond the reach of even a young boy’s dreams. He can’t say where he developed his interest in flying, only that it was there and the desire to be a pilot was strong. That love of flying stayed with him throughout his life.
    A boy of twelve can recognize what is going on while the country around him celebrates the end of World War II—that war was a time when the entire country moved together to defeat an enemy on both sides of the world. Scrap drives, rationing, war bonds, newsreels, and the radio all served to remind everyone just what was going on elsewhere on the planet. Footage of bombers and fighters moving through the skies of Europe and the Pacific showed young Dramesi just what a flier had to do if he wanted to serve his country. No one had to teach the young man what patriotism meant; he could see it in the actions of others.
    Patriotism aside, there are other things to learn growing up in a South Philadelphia row house. Toughness and the ability to depend on oneself to get through a situation counted a lot in Dramesi’s neighborhood. Early on, he learned that it took skill and determination to win, not just attitude. His father had been a boxer, and part of that pugnacious attitude seemed part of the boy’s genes.
    Dramesi continued his education at Haddonfield High School in New Jersey, just