The Vietnam War lasted almost 20 years. It was the first war the U.S. had lost. However, the return home of the Prisoners-of-War was widely celebrated. They were held captive for almost nine years, the longest of any American war. Those pilots who survived shootdown were held in secluded prisons, hidden from the outside world except for occasional propaganda films.In 1992 I received permission from the Vietnam government to return to Hanoi and the prison
Prisoner in Vietnam. The Dewey Wayne Waddell story of how he ended up being a prisoner at the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Dewey Wayne Waddell was taken captive after his F-105 Thunderchief was shot down by Vietnamese communist fighters in 1967, and he was released many years later, in 1973. North Vietnam’s treatment of American airmen shot down and captured over North Vietnam was a subject of controversy and concern throughout the Vietnam War. From the
Captured and at the mercy of an increasingly cruel enemy, German-born US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was left with no choice but to attempt a daring escape from the Pathet Lao prison camp in which he was being held during the Vietnam War. The fateful decision was made only after he and six other POWs had overheard plans to get rid of them as soon as the guards ran out of food. Dieter would choose
Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr. used his eyes to blink the word “TORTURE” using Morse Code during his captivity in Vietnam. He was being filmed for propaganda purposes and this video was broadcast around the world. Naval Intelligence was able to decipher his “strange” blinking. He was awarded the Navy Cross, our Nation’s 2nd highest military honor for his heroism as a P.O.W.