The result of five years of research, First Heroes untangles an intricate web of information and ultimately concludes that the prisoners of war that were held captive in Southeast Asia were forgotten or ignored by their own country. Author Rod Colvin crisscrossed the country interviewing military and government officials, veterans, returned POWs, political figures, journalists, and members of the National League of Families and the National Forget-Me-Not Association and balances hard facts with the dramatic personal accounts of parents, wives, brothers, sisters, and children who have waged a difficult battle for the truth about their loved ones. This chronicle is as much a testament to the faith and unending hope of the family members as it is the story of the men themselves.
“I’m Not Gonna Die in This Damn Place”: Manliness, Identity, and Survival of the Mexican American Vietnam Prisoners of War
By the time of the Vietnam War era, the “Mexican American Generation” had made tremendous progress both socially and politically. However, the number of Mexican Americans in comparison to the number of white prisoners of war (POWs) illustrated the significant discrimination and inequality the Chicano population faced in both military
