Shot down August 5, 1964, U.S. navy pilot Everett Alvarez, Jr was held captive for eight years and six months during the Vietnam War becoming the second longest held prisoner of War (POW) in U.S. history. Join the PMML in a conversation with Commander Everett Alvarez, Jr. (Retired) and discover how he not only survived captivity, but upon release resumed his military career, became a distinguished attorney, author, and entrepreneur, and is currently nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal
Captured and at the mercy of an increasingly cruel enemy, German-born US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was left with no choice but to attempt a daring escape from the Pathet Lao prison camp in which he was being held during the Vietnam War. The fateful decision was made only after he and six other POWs had overheard plans to get rid of them as soon as the guards ran out of food. Dieter would choose
“I thought perhaps I was going to die,” McCain told ABC’s Sam Donaldson in a 1999 interview when describing being captured and tortured by the Vietcong.
Excerpts from an Oct. 20, 2019 interview with Col. Ken Cordier, a former United States Air Force pilot who was an American prisoner of war in North Vietnam for 6 years, 3 months and 2 days during the Vietnam War. This is part of the Robert H. Jackson Center’s Defenders of Freedom project. For further information see www.roberthjacskon.org.
