Gary Sigler recalls six years of captivity, torture in Hanoi Hilton
U.S. Air Force captain Gary Sigler recounted the story of his near-death and survival through captivity in the Hanoi Hilton.
U.S. Air Force captain Gary Sigler recounted the story of his near-death and survival through captivity in the Hanoi Hilton.
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.
There are very few people who embody the American spirit quite like Major General John Borling. The 35 year Air Force veteran was shot down in Vietnam and spent the next 6 and a half years in a prison camp. See how he found the will to survive under the most impossible circumstances.
Retired Air Force Col. Robert Certain, a B-52 navigator and former prisoner of war, worked with MOAA to organize a trip back to Vietnam to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Operation Homecoming and the return of more than 600 POWs from North Vietnam. Seven former POWs as well as family and friends joined Certain to see southern Vietnam and Cambodia and return to Hanoi to see what remains of the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison.
“I thought perhaps I was going to die,” McCain told ABC’s Sam Donaldson in a 1999 interview when describing being captured and tortured by the Vietcong.