The story of a small, handmade American flag that gave hope to POWs at the “Hanoi Hilton” during Vietnam War (Dramesi)

Freedom has a taste to those who fight and almost die that the protected will never know.”
–A POW saying left on a wall in the Hoa-Lo Prison known to Westerners as the “Hanoi Hilton.”

A small American flag on display at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum was a patriotic light in the dark days of the Vietnam War.

Air Force pilot Col. John A. Dramesi was shot down over North Vietnam and captured in 1967. He is considered the only Vietnam War prisoner to never break under barbaric torture and say anything other than name, rank and serial number.

The U.S. listed about 1,200 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in Vietnam. In 1973, 591 Americans, including Dramesi, returned home.

Dramesi wrote a book about his experience in captivity, “Code of Honor,” in which he tells of his determination to resist his capturers in the “Hanoi Hilton.”

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