The incredible but true story of Dieter Dengler, the only pilot to escape captivity from a POW camp in the Laotian jungle during the Vietnam War. This amazing story of triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds has been filmed by Werner Herzog as both a documentary (Little Dieter Needs to Fly) and a motion picture (Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale), and now receives its book treatment from Bruce Henderson, who served with Dengler in Vietnam.
Traumatic Defeat: POWs, MIAs, and National Mythmaking
War breeds myths, especially those made up by the vanquished to explain or soften their loss. Occasionally the myths of the defeated center on prisoners of war (POWs) and those missing in action (MIAs) to justify the lost struggle, mute national guilt, and sometimes even reject the reality of defeat
