Only a month earlier, they were prisoners of war. Since their release, Navy Lieut. Robert Frishman and Seaman Douglas Hegdahl have been recuperating at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The third released P.W., Air Force Captain Wesley Rumble, 26, whose fighter-bomber went down over Quang Binh province in April 1968, returned to his home in Oroville, Calif.
Initially, all three men remained silent about their treatment in prison, explaining that they feared for Americans left behind (TIME, Aug. 15). For Frishman, 28, who is naturally voluble, keeping si lent about his experiences was almost as agonizing as his 22 months in solitary confinement. Last week, accompanied by Seaman Hegdahl, he decided to “blow the whistle” on Hanoi at a press conference arranged by the Pentagon.
