Tuscaloosa veteran returns home after months as Russian POW
Updated: 6:50 PM CDT Sep 30, 2022
WELL, THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER FOR TWO ALABAMA MEN CAPTURED BY RUSSIAN FORCES AS THEY FOUGHT SIDE BY SIDE WITH UKRAINIAN FORCES. ALEX, RICKY AND ANDY WIN. THEY WERE RELEASED IN A PRISONER EXCHANGE LAST WEEK. SO THEY ARE BACK HOME IN ALABAMA. JUST A FEW HOURS AGO, MARK LISA CRANE SAT DOWN WITH ALEX TO TALK ABOUT WHAT THE MEN WENT THROUGH DURING SEVERAL MONTHS AS PRISONERS OF WAR. ALEX DROVE IS BACK HOME, SPENDING TIME WITH HIS FAMILY AND HIS DOG DIESEL. ALL THIS NORMALCY IS QUIET, AN ADJUSTMENT. JUST WEEKS AGO, HE AND FELLOW ALABAMIAN ANDY WINN WERE PRISONERS OF WAR FACING UNIMAGINABLE CIRCUMSTANCES. WE WERE TORTURED BY DEFINITION. IT WAS A VIOLATION OF ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR HUMAN RIGHTS. IT WAS TORTURE. AND IT IS WAR CRIMES. YEAH, THEY BEAT A LOT OF INFORMATION OUT OF US, BUT WE ALSO MANAGED TO RETAIN ALL OF THE REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF YOU KNOW, WE KEPT ALL THE INFORMATION SECRET THAT WE COULD. ALEX SAYS THEY WERE BOTH VERY AWARE OF WHAT COULD HAPPEN WHEN THEY LAWYERED UP LIKE, EITHER WE鈥橰E MOVING PRISONS, WE鈥橰E BEING RELEASED OR WE鈥橰E BEING EXECUTED. ALEX AND ANDY DIDN鈥橳 MEET UNTIL THEY WERE IN UKRAINE, BUT BECAME FAST FRIENDS. AFTER WHAT THEY鈥橵E BEEN THROUGH TOGETHER, THAT FRIENDSHIP IS A BOND. ALEX SAYS IS STRONGER THAN BROTHERHOOD. THERE WERE SO MANY TIMES IN THE PRISON THAT THAT WE WOULD TURN AND SAY, HEY, I LOVE YOU, MAN, BUT IF WE GET OUT OF HERE, I DON鈥橳 WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE FOR A MONTH. BUT AS SOON AS WE GOT SEPARATED, THE BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT AND WENT TO OUR SEPARATE HOMES AND FAMILIES LIKE EVER SINCE WE鈥橵E BEEN TEXTING EACH OTHER, WE鈥橵E BEEN CALLING EACH OTHER AND SAYING, I MISS YOU. WE鈥橰E LIKE TWO TEENAGE GIRLS. IT鈥橲 UP LATE AT NIGHT TALKING TO EACH OTHER. NOW, ALEX WASN鈥橳 COMFORTABLE GOING INTO DETAIL ABOUT EXACTLY HOW THEY WERE CAPTURED OR WHAT HE AND ANDY WENT THROUGH WHEN THEY WERE TORTURED. BUT HE SAYS HE HAS REPORTED THOSE INSTANCES TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, GIVEN DETAILED REPORTS, AND HE IS HOPING TO SOMEDAY HAVE SOMEONE PROSECUTED FOR THOSE WA
Tuscaloosa veteran returns home after months as Russian POW
Updated: 6:50 PM CDT Sep 30, 2022
Alex Drueke, a Tuscaloosa native and one of two American veterans released from Russian captivity after being captured in Ukraine as a prisoner of war, said Friday he is slowly getting back to normal after returning home. 米兰体育 13's Lisa Crane sat down with Drueke to learn more about his POW experience and his call for the continued support of Ukraine."We never knew if we were going to be exchanged or executed," Drueke said. "They were trying and were going to give us the death penalties so we were very aware that we might be executed."Drueke said he and Andy Huynh, another Alabama veteran who was captured with him, have become closer than brothers and their families will be forever connected. And while both men are thankful to be alive and back home, Drueke said he can't stop thinking about the war atrocities still going on in Ukraine. "Yes, we're home, but Russia is still in Ukraine. The war is still being fought," he said. "And just because we're home doesn't mean everybody can stop. Ukraine still needs support, Ukraine still needs help."On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to illegally annex more occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his seven-month invasion.Drueke said he doesn't regret going to Ukraine to help in the war effort, but he said he has no plans of returning due to the horrific torture he and Huynh endured.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alex Drueke, a Tuscaloosa native and one of two American veterans released from Russian captivity after being captured in Ukraine as a prisoner of war, said Friday he is slowly getting back to normal after returning home. 米兰体育 13's Lisa Crane sat down with Drueke to learn more about his POW experience and his call for the continued support of Ukraine.
"We never knew if we were going to be exchanged or executed," Drueke said. "They were trying and were going to give us the death penalties so we were very aware that we might be executed."
Drueke said he and Andy Huynh, another Alabama veteran who was captured with him, have become closer than brothers and their families will be forever connected. And while both men are thankful to be alive and back home, Drueke said he can't stop thinking about the war atrocities still going on in Ukraine.
"Yes, we're home, but Russia is still in Ukraine. The war is still being fought," he said. "And just because we're home doesn't mean everybody can stop. Ukraine still needs support, Ukraine still needs help."
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to illegally annex more occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his seven-month invasion.
Drueke said to help in the war effort, but he said he has no plans of returning due to the horrific torture he and Huynh endured.