On 22 December 1972, an F-111 call sign Jackel 33 was flying a night strike mission over North Vietnam. Jackel 33 was manned by its pilot, Captain Bob Sponeybarger and its Weapons System Operation, 1stLt William (Bill) Wilson. Jackel 33’s assigned targets were the river docks in the middle of Hanoi. For this mission, they flew from Thailand, north and west of Hanoi, looping back around, flying a southerly direction through the eastern expanses of Hanoi to strike their targets. Once shot down, Bill evaded for a week on the ground – the whole time being pursued by North Vietnamese soldiers. Using the training from USAF Survival School in the Philippines, as well as relying on his acumen of the woods, developed as a young scout, Bill eluded capture for a week. Bill (and his pilot) remainder POWs for the remainder of the war.
Prisoner of War: Six Years in Hanoi
John M. McGrath, a young Navy pilot who was captured in 1967 after being shot down over Vietnam, vividly presents a straightforward and compelling tale of survival, of years of suffering, and of the human will to endure. During the era of the unpopular Vietnam War few issues united the
