Ed Beck has plenty of stories to tell, and at 101 years old, he is still making the effort to tell them.
Beck joined the Army in 1944 at age 18. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he and other American soldiers were surrounded by German forces.
"They said I was the enemy," Beck said.
"He did not want to surrender. He wanted to keep fighting, but his commander said, 'We need to surrender,'" Mark Schaefer, Ed’s longtime friend, said.
Beck became a prisoner of war.
"I never wanted to be a POW," Beck said.
He spent months in captivity before escaping, using his knowledge of the German language to get away. His military service did not end there.
"He did go to Korea. He helped push the North Koreans back to the Chinese border," Schaefer said.
To this day, Beck still wears his uniform, along with his World War II and Korean War hat.
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A recent fall, however, left him needing a different kind of support.
"Ed was going into a restaurant. He tripped and fell. He cracked seven ribs on his right side, three on his left, cracked an elbow … and he cracked his hip," Schaefer said.
Beck spent four days in the hospital. After coming home, he fell again and suffered a mild heart attack.
Schaefer, who is also a teacher at Merritt Academy in Woodland Park, Colorado, told a coworker what happened, and together they came up with an idea.
"The teacher said to me, 'You know, we should have the kids write him get-well cards.' And I thought, what a great idea," Schaefer said.
Students from kindergarten through 12th grade wrote cards. Students in grades 6 through 12 then came to Beck's home in Southeast Colorado Springs to deliver them.
"When the kids got off the bus and came up and shook his hand and greeted him, he just beamed. And when he got the cards, he just lit up," Schaefer said.
More than 180 cards arrived that day. There are now about 250.
"There aren't enough words that I can say. Thanks for all the cards," Beck said.
The cards have also sparked conversations about history.
"They got a chance to meet a primary source of history. And there's so few left," Schaefer said.
One student even asked Beck what it meant to be a POW.
"Prisoner of war," Beck said.
Schaefer hopes Beck's story reaches far beyond the classroom.
WATCH: Letters from the students are read to Ed:
"We're hoping that other people will see Ed's story… and send him cards and letters to help cheer him up not just in Colorado but throughout the United States, even worldwide if we can." Schaefer said.
Anyone who would like to send Beck a card can write to:
Ed Beck
P.O. Box 7473
Colorado Springs, CO 80933
