World War II veteran Anthony Acevedo was one of several hundred U.S. soldiers held prisoner in a Nazi slave labor camp. Acevedo, who kept a detailed diary during his imprisonment, says he and the other surviving soldiers signed affidavits promising never to talk about their ordeal.CNN: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence...

Anthony Acevedo says after signing the affidavit agreeing not to speak of his ordeal and the atrocities he witnessed, he kept quiet for several decades. When he returned home from the war, his father told him he "was a coward" because he had been captured. Acevedo left home immediately and did not speak with his parents again for years. Eventually, Acevedo began to talk about his imprisonment to groups of high school students because, as he says, "people have to know what happened."CNN: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence...

"We had to sign an affidavit ... [saying] we never went through what we went through. We weren't supposed to say a word."CNN: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence...

"They put us on a train, and we traveled six days and six nights. It was a boxcar that would fit heads of cattle. They had us 80 to a boxcar. You couldn't squat. And there was little tiny windows that you could barely see through."CNN: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence...

• CNN: Lawmakers to Army Chief: Honor Soldiers Held As Slaves by Nazis (December 2, 2008)

• CNN: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: 'Let it be known' (November 11, 2008)

• CNN Video: Acevedo Reads Diary Entry About Being Freed (Time: 0:57)

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