POWs

The words of a World War II prisoner of war from Normal show a grim situation filled with privation, guard brutality, and occasional diversions. This comes from Robert S. Hall’s wartime journal, recently donated to the McLean County Museum of History.

The U.S. military used DNA analysis to identity the body of John Ferguson of Flanagan. Ferguson was 20 when he died as a prisoner of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands. He will be buried Oct. 1 in Gridley.