09/20/2026
An American Hero and a true Legend has passed....
Sad to report that Edwin Beck took his last breath just after midnight. He is now resting easy and reunited with his Bride Faye.
Ed Beck was an American EX-Prisoner of War. He joined the Army in 1943, ultimately spending the next 27 years in the Army serving as a 1st Sgt, Mess Sgt. and Motor Sgt among many other duties.
On December 19, 1943, Ed’s unit was surrounded and captured. The men were then marched 150 miles in 5 days to the German Stalag 12A POW camp. Later, Beck was moved to a second POW camp, then finally ended up at Oshats where prisoners were made to break large rocks into rubble with sledge hammers, then load the crusher to make gravel for German roads and railroad tracks. Ed Beck spent three months slaving in that stone quarry from sun up to sundown. As the Russian Army began to get close to Oshats, the Germans placed all the Russian prisoners on the road outside the camp, figuring that the Russians would not kill their own men. As Beck watched from inside the wire, an American P51 Mustang streaked out of the sky and began strafing machine gun fire at the Germans and Russians outside the camp. One Russian POW ran through the gate and back inside. Beck noticed that he had a pair of wire cutters, which he procured from the Russian. When a fellow prisoner asked Ed what his intentions were, Ed replied, “I’m going home.” Later that week, at high noon during the changing of the guards, Beck and a fellow prisoner cut the wire and made their escape. Miles away from the camp Beck encountered an American attaché from the 114th Infantry Division in an unarmed Jeep with Special Diplomatic markings. The Jeep and soldier were allowed back and forth across enemy lines. When Beck told his story to the American, he had Beck conceal himself in the woods until the next morning when an ambulance came and picked him up. Back on allied soil, Beck met General Dwight Eisenhower, had a real meal, and returned on the 18th of June to Norfolk, Virginia. When Ed reached freedom, he weighed a mere 80 pounds.
Sgt. Beck was 101 years old at the time of his passing.
Godspeed old friend. See you on the other side.
