When Lt. Colonel Ballard, a USAF jet pilot on a military mission over North Vietnam, was shot down in September 1966, his first thought was for his wife: Ruth, I’m sorry. It’s going to be a long time… Shortly afterward he was captured by North Vietnamese soldiers and interred as a prisoner of war. Thus began six and a half years of pain, hunger, thirst, fear, anxiety, humiliation, and degradation. But there was also hope. And faith. This memoir vividly chronicles Ballard’s capture, torture, and the living conditions that he and his fellow POWs endured until their release in March of 1973.
Commitment To Honor A Prisoner of War Remembers Vietnam
Here, Colonel Halllooks back, reflecting 30 years later on his years in a prisoner of war cell. And, He answers the question: was it worth it? Was the war against the communists in North Vietnam worth seven years of his life, and the lives of thousands of other young Americans.
