KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A chance encounter has enabled a World War I soldier to get back home to Hungary 53 years after being taken prisoner in Russia. CNN's Suzanna Anderson has more on the former POW.</s>SUZANNA ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His name is Andres Thomas (ph) or perhaps it's Thomas Andres. Nobody is quite sure and that isn't the only mystery surrounding this man, who may just be the last World War II prisoner to be freed. For 53 years, he lived behind the walls of a Russian psychiatric hospital 700 kilometers east of Moscow. For all those years, nobody could understand his mutterings. The staff drew the natural conclusion, considering the surroundings, he had a psychiatric problem. Along the way, he lost a leg to a medical condition. But some years ago, a Russian policeman who spoke Hungarian recognized Hungarian words and the story started to come out. It's thought that Thomas fought in a Hungarian unit under German command during World War II and was captured by the Red Army. He was brought to the hospital in 1947 and stayed there until Friday.</s>UNIDENTIFIED HUNGARIAN: I'm glad that things are going this way. He managed to live till 75 at the Catellnecht Psychiatric Hospital (ph) and I hope he will live at least 20 more years when he gets home at long last.</s>ANDERSON: His arrival in Budapest was emotional for the people who believe they may be related to him. A Hungarian doctor who examined him hopes that he will get his life back. But he clearly has a long way to go. A man who has done little more than carve wood in a hospital work shop for more than half a century now has to learn about jet planes, computers and the Internet and try to remember where he came from. Suzanna Anderson, CNN.
World War II POW Finally Goes Home