Alvin Rohrs will never again look at the American flag in the same way.

Rohrs, as tears welled in his eyes, told a group of 150 high school students attending the Missouri Freedom Forum in Cape Girardeau Wednesday that a friend's recent look back at his experience in World War II unveiled the true meaning of freedom.

"Everyone in my home town of Boliver knew that John Plater had suffered a horrible experience in World War II, but we all knew he would never talk about it," said Rohrs. "But two days ago, on the Fourth of July, John Plater got up in front of the population of Boliver and told us his story."

Plater was a member of a regiment captured by the Japanese in early 1942. He and thousands of other soldiers -- starved from months of siege -- were forced by their captors to walk 65 miles, day and night, in what became known as the Bataan Death March.

Once the survivors made it to the prison camps, Plater was put on burial detail, where he and fellow Americans buried 20-40 of their comrades every day.

One night on the way back from a work detail, the freight train carrying the prisoners stalled. The Japanese forced the soldiers to push the train the five miles back to camp.

"John told us that as they pushed, one of the men started singing, `God Bless America,' at the top of his lungs," said Rohrs. "Pretty soon, all the men joined in singing -- singing like they'd never sung before.

"As they approached the camp, the 4,000 prisoners inside began singing too," he said. "One prisoner had smuggled an American flag inside, which he held up during the song. Other soldiers lined up around him, to keep the Japanese from taking the flag. My friend John Plater said that he could no longer sing when he saw that flag," said Rohrs. "He just stood there and cried."

Rohrs told the group of high school students that after hearing the story, he knew he would never again be able to look at an American flag without thinking of Plater.

"His story made me realize that there were people like John Plater out there who lost their freedom, fighting so we could keep ours," he said. "Realizing their sacrifice made me know what freedom is really about."

Rohrs is president and chief executive officer of Students in Free Enterprise Inc. of Springfield.

He told the Freedom Forum group that Americans are slowly losing freedom through government regulation. He also said Americans are too willing to relinquish their freedom in exchange for something desirable and through apathy that dulls the nation.

"The threat of outside invasion is not as great as the threat of our internal destruction," said Rohrs. "We are so busy standing up for our own rights, that we are forgetting the men and women who have gave their lives or who put their lives on the line every day to protect our freedoms.

"We have to stand up and accept the responsibility for our freedoms and accept other people's right to freedom as well," he added. "Every freedom you have today was quite literally paid for by someone who gave his life to preserve the freedom of others."