<<If your friend who served in WWII had been captured would you have lost all respect for him?>>
Depends on the circumstances. My late neighbour, who was wounded in France and successfully evacuated at Dunkirk, eventually WAS captured (after his unit was later surrounded in Greece and took 30% casualties.) I have the greatest possible respect for him.
As a matter of interest, according to my neighbour, the British army considered surrender to be acceptable for a surrounded unit if it had sustained 10% casualties. He took a lot of pride in the fact that they surrendered after taking casualties of about 30%. In other words, they didn't give up without a real fight.
We have a friend whose father was captured at Tobruk. He's a nice guy (or was, he also passed away) and what happened wasn't his fault personally, but 25,000 British troops captured without a shot being fired? Come on, who is going to respect THAT? I don't even say they were wrong. That was General Wavell's decision alone, and it may well have been the right one to take. I would respect them the way I respect the other drivers on the road, the other diners in a restaurant, anyone I happen to meet for the first time, but the kind of respect accorded to a real military hero? No, why, why should I?