Pekin native, veteran and former POW Stanley Newell dies at 76

Mike Kramer, Pekin Daily Times
·4 min read

Pekin Community High School graduate, former prisoner of war, and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Stanley Newell, 76, passed away Jan. 11 in Merry Wood Lodge, Ala.

Newell was born Aug. 8, 1947 and graduated from Pekin Community High School in 1965. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966, he found himself taken prisoner in 1967 when North Vietnamese troops overran his unit’s position in the Ia Trang Valley after a firefight that lasted several hours. Out of two platoons, Newell was one of just 10 American survivors of the engagement.

“He had been wounded and he was lying on the ground face-down,” said Newell’s sister, Brenda Lehman of Clinton, Ill. "The North Vietnamese came around, checking to see who was dead and who wasn’t and taking rings and watches and whatever they could find.”

When North Vietnamese soldiers came to Newell, he was apparently sure they were going to kill him.

“He said they rolled him over and he kept wondering what it was going to feel like,” Lehman said. “Was it going to hurt or was he just going to be shot and be dead.”

Declared missing in action for his first two years of captivity, Stanley Newell was identified in this photograph taken by a Japanese news agency.
Declared missing in action for his first two years of captivity, Stanley Newell was identified in this photograph taken by a Japanese news agency.

Alive and able to walk, Newell was taken to a POW camp inside Laos, and was later force-marched to Hoa Lo Prison, a complex colloquially known as “The Hanoi Hilton.”

In all, he spent six years in captivity. He was declared missing in action for two years before being identified in a photograph taken by a Japanese news agency.

“We never heard a word from him the whole time he was gone,” said Lehman. “We didn’t know if he was dead, alive, injured … anything about him. He also did not hear anything from us, which he said he was thankful for, because the North Vietnamese often tormented the person a letter was for. They would say ‘I’ve got this letter, but you can’t see it.’”

Even though Newell was unable to communicate with family and friends, his entire hometown was clearly thinking about him.

Family friend Charlotte Jibben of Pekin recalled that when Newell was declared MIA, people throughout the community began wearing bracelets bearing his name.

“This whole town was praying for him,” Jibben said.

While Stanley Newell was a prisoner of war, people in his home town of Pekin wore bracelets bearing his name, U.S. Army rank, and the date he was captured.
While Stanley Newell was a prisoner of war, people in his home town of Pekin wore bracelets bearing his name, U.S. Army rank, and the date he was captured.

When Newell was released in 1973, he returned to a community that had prepared an appropriate hero’s welcome, according to Lehman. He was flown from Denver to Pekin on a private plane belonging to a friend.

A reception committee awaited him at Pekin Municipal Airport and conducted him by motorcade to Pekin Community High School for the homecoming ceremony.

“It was unreal how many people were there,” Lehman added. “A lot of people gave speeches and presented him with awards. Then, everybody got to file by and shake his hand and say a few words.”

Newell continued to serve in the Army despite an experience that would have left many people with a pathological fear of uniforms. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Austin Peay State University and retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1992. His decorations included a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart.

“He thought he could adjust to life better in the military because he thought they would understand his feelings,” Lehman said.

Stationed at Maxwell Air Force in Montgomery at the time of his retirement, Newell found he enjoyed Alabama’s warm climate and remained there with his wife, Shari.

During his retirement years, he enjoyed family card nights, cookouts, dove hunts, skeet shooting, and reading. He also loved to spend time with his granddaughters.

“He loved those girls and would do anything for them,” Lehman said. “Whatever they were doing at home, he would take part in it.”

Newell was preceded in death by his wife, Shari and his parents, Arthur and Muriel Newell.

He is survived by his sisters Brenda Lehman of Clinton, Ill., Amy Werner of Pekin and Marti Kreutzer of Topeka, Kan.; his son Chris and daughter-in-law Autumn; granddaughters Annabelle Tucker and Allianne Newell of Wetumpka, Ala.; and his nieces and nephews, Art Lehman, Alan Lehman, Sara Lehman Bateson, Bill Lehman, Kealy Werner, Jens Werner, Matthew Kreutzer, Jakob Kreutzer, Rick Uhler and Chani Sullivan.

This article originally appeared on Pekin Daily Times: A Pekin native, U.S. Army veteran and POW survivor has died at 76