Ernest C. Brace was a former Marine hero, banished in disgrace from the Corps. In 1965, while working as a civilian pilot in Laos, he was captured and spent the next two years in a bamboo cage with his legs in stocks. His bravery did not diminish when transferred to Hanoi where he maintained the military code of conduct, refusing early release so that others might go free. This is the true, firsthand account of America’s longest-held civilian POW in Vietnam, his eight years in captivity, and eventual return to honor.
Seven Years in Hanoi: A POW Tells His Story
It Looked like and “ordinary” day when Air Force Capt. Larry Chesley took off. But less than an hour later he had been shot down over North Vietnam with a broken vertebra, stripped of his clothing and equipment and was sitting handcuffed and blindfolded in a hole in the ground.
