Barry Flecken holds a proclamation from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt about his uncle who served with Abie Abraham at his home in Summit Twp on Friday.

Butler native Sgt. Paul Flecken was one of roughly 75,000 captured soldiers forced to walk in the Bataan Death March during World War II.

Like his fellow prisoners of war, Flecken endured intense heat and abuse by Japanese soldiers during the grueling 65-mile march.

“It was a horrible, horrible thing,” said his nephew Barry Flecken of Summit Township.

Paul Flecken ended up in the same prison camp as Abie Abraham, who mentions meeting Flecken in his book, “Oh, God, Where are You?”

Unlike Abraham, Flecken never made it out of the camp.

“We know he died in the camp according to Abie,” Barry Flecken said.

Paul Flecken, who grew up with three brothers on Oak Street, enlisted in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery in 1938.

Flecken was promoted to sergeant in June 1941.

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