America greatness rises above cruelty

In the middle of World War II, thousands of German soldiers were sent to prisoner-of-war camps across the Midwest. Some ended up in Algona, Iowa. These were men who had worn Hitler’s uniform. Yet in those Iowa camps they slept in clean barracks, ate three meals a day, and worked alongside our farmers.

By nearly every account, they were treated with dignity. Some even gained weight. One former prisoner later recalled, “We ate better as prisoners in America than our families did back home.”

Others remembered farm wives bringing them lemonade, children offering cookies, and even invitations into churches at Christmas. What they saw in Iowa shattered the propaganda they had been fed: that America was cruel, corrupt, and heartless.

Why did we do this? Because America once understood that the way we treated our enemies said more about us than it did about them. Humane treatment was not weakness. It was strength. It was democracy proving itself by example.

Contrast that with today.

Half of all children in America rely on Medicaid for their health care. In Iowa, it covers nursing home care for our elders and keeps struggling families afloat. Yet even as we once gave food and medicine to captured enemy soldiers without hesitation, we now debate whether our own children and grandparents are “deserving” of that same security.

Inside those Iowa barracks, the greatest fear didn’t come from the American guards. It came from fellow prisoners — hard-line Nazis who tried to enforce loyalty through intimidation. They silenced dissent by branding others as traitors. That’s not just a story from 1944. Today, fear of being called disloyal keeps moderates in line, and name-calling drowns out dialogue. The authoritarian impulse is alive and well — only the uniforms have changed.

If America could treat captured German soldiers with humanity at the height of a world war, why can’t we treat our own neighbors the same way in 2025? If Iowa farm families could see the human being in a prisoner of war, why can’t we see the human being in a fellow citizen, a patient on Medicaid, or someone who simply votes differently?

The German POWs carried a story home that shaped postwar Europe: that America was fair, that democracy meant dignity, that even in war humanity could triumph. What story will today’s children carry about us? That we turned on each other? That we built walls instead of bridges?

America’s greatness has never come from cruelty. It has come from our ability to rise above it. If we could feed our enemies with dignity in 1944, surely we can care for our neighbors’ health in 2025.

That’s not nostalgia. That’s a challenge — and an invitation — to live up to the best of who we already proved we can be.

Dr. Christopher R. Crossett, DNP, MBA, MSN, RN, CRRN, is a board-certified rehabilitation nurse and doctor of nursing practice specializing in health systems leadership. Based in Cedar Rapids, he advocates for health care policy and ethics from the perspective of a front line nurse and health systems leader.