Three Navy pilots released after six years in prison in North Vietnam yesterday detailed the torture they said they received at the hands of their captors.
At a news conference held at the Naval Hospital in St. Albans, Queens, the officers, all from New York State, spoke in strong support of the Nixon Administration’s conduct of the war, particularly its bombing policy.
They had strong words of censure for the antiwar movement, which they charged had prolonged the war by causing the North Vietnamese to misgauge the influence of the protesters on Government policy.
Lieut. Charles D. Rice, 29 rears old, said that about two hours after the downing of his F‐8 Crusader, on a combat mission in October, 1967, he was stripped of his clothing and taken to a prison near Hanoi.
Bound by Nylon Cord
“In my shorts, I began by giving my name, rank and serial number,” he said. The North Vietnamese “smiled knowingly,” he continued, then threatened him, describing the means by which they would force him to disclose military information.
His captors produced a nylon cord 15 to 20 feet long and about one‐half inch in diameter, Lieutenant Rice said, and bound his wrists and elbows behind his back and tied his legs in :rich a way as to cause a cutoff of circulation and “excruciating pain” during sessions that seemed “timeless,” he continued. He estimated that the torture occurred three or four times over 48‐hour periods.
During these sessions, he said, he was kicked in the head and kidneys.
Asked if the tactics were effective, he replied that such “suffering can break you.”
