On Nov. 29, 1970, 43 U.S. servicemen gathered in the Hoa Lo prison compound, often called the “Hanoi Hilton,” and performed an act of retaliation— a church service.
Nine days earlier, after a failed attempt by U.S. Special Forces to liberate the prisoners, the North Vietnamese captors had removed them from their cells and incarcerated them in a single holding area. For several men, it was the first face-to-face encounter with friends they had made through tap-code communication.
The first Sunday after they were removed from their cells, they attempted to hold a church service but were threatened with severe punishment. Seeing the men’s disappointment, then-Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. “Ned” Shuman — a naval aviator who would spend five years as a POW and who died Dec. 3 at age 82 — stepped forward. “I want to know — person by person— if you are really committed to holding church,” he said, asking each of the other 42 men for support until he achieved a unanimous commitment.
