Commander George Coker was one of the “Alcatraz 11,” a group considered by the North Vietnamese to be the resistance leadership, even though he was a junior officer. The Alcatraz 11 were moved from Hao Lo to a separate facility “Alcatraz” in 1967. Among them were Jim Stockdale and Bob Shumaker. Like Shumaker, Coker was a key communications link in the command structure at Hao Lo and the other Hanoi prisons. He also has the
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
Jeff’s guest is Captain Allen Brady, author of “Witnessing the American Century: Via Berlin, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam and the Straits of Florida”, a US Naval Aviator’s odyssey through pivotal moments in 20th-century history. As a youngster, Captain Brady watched the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. As a pilot, the Naval Academy graduate was shot down over North Vietnam and spent six years as POW. The rise of Adolf Hitler, America’s Great Depression in the heartland, the
On November 6, 2013 at Military Emphasis Week’s Convocation, North America’s largest weekly gathering of Christian students, Gerald Coffee spoke to students and faculty about the four different levels of faith, that being faith in yourself, your fellow man, America, and ultimately, faith in God. He explained that even after spending seven years as a prisoner of war, “God equals strength.” Born in Modesto, California, Gerald “Jerry” Coffee joined the Navy in 1957 after graduating
In this 1992 interview, Captain Eugene “Red” McDaniel, who was a Vietnam War POW for six years, documents how thousands of Americans were left behind, many still alive even today.
