John Wayne Addresses Vietnam POWs Upon Their Return

May 24, 1973: John Wayne thanks the President for his services to his country and warmly welcomes America’s POWs home at a historic White House dinner.

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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

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