http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/07/25/mj072507powwhitt.html

Mr. Whitt was a traffic officer for the Middletown Police Department and a Butler County Sheriff's deputy. He was a World War II prisoner of war and an avid motorcycle rider.

In 1942, Mr. Whitt met his future wife, Nura Sink, a nurse who was caring for the broken leg he sustained in a motorcycle accident. After Mr. Whitt joined the Army, the couple had a military-style wedding at Camp Claibourne, La., where he was in boot camp.

Mr. Whitt was in the 82nd Airborne Glider Division. He was an escort for Gen. Omar Bradley and Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway.

He was in five invasions, including Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day and Holland. He was captured by Germans in September 1944, when he was attempting to capture a bridge along a Dutch canal.

He escaped from the camp in 1945 as the Russian Army invaded Germany, hiking for weeks in knee-deep snow, hiding away in barns and eating hogs to survive.

In the prison camp, Mr. Whitt was sometimes given a can of soup or cabbage for a meal. When he returned to the U.S., his wife said, "We always had enough food to feed an army" because he vowed to never be hungry again.

In 30 years as a traffic officer on a motorcycle, Mr. Whitt was involved in two accidents, his wife said.

She said he was called "Big Daddy" because he weighed more than 300 pounds and when he rode his motorcycle, all they could see was him.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2525 or dwilson@coxohio.com.