It's not every day a Soldier has the opportunity to meet a member of the greatest generation.
Retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Edwin Beck, a World War II prisoner of war, and his wife, Fay, arrived at the SEC Jan. 29, 2021, to receive their initial doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Beck's arrival signals a new phase of Fort Carson's COVID-19 vaccination efforts for TRICARE beneficiaries 75 and older.
"They called me the other day saying they had openings and told us to come in at 11 o'clock. We had about five different calls come in to remind us," said Edwin Beck. "We'd been waiting for this moment."
Beck, a native of Pennsylvania, joined the Army in 1943 and was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division, 422nd Regiment, when he was captured by the Germans on Dec. 19, 1944, at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
The American prisoners were forced to travel by foot and box car for several days in the snow before arriving at Stalag IV G, a labor camp near the city of Oschatz, Germany. Russian and British soldiers were also imprisoned at the camp.
"One of the Russian prisoners had a pair of wire cutters so I asked for them," said Beck. "One of my friends asked what I was going to do with them and I said I'm going home."
Beck, and two other American prisoners, escaped during the German guards' shift change. He spent nearly six months as a POW that winter.