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
During the Vietnam War many United States soldiers were captured and held as prisoners of war (POW). Many soldiers reported being regularly tortured, and some were used for military propaganda. This segment from Iowa Public Television’s Iowans Remember Vietnam includes archival footage and interviews with Iowa veteran Harold Johnson. Johnson describes his role as a military jet pilot, his experience being captured, his days in captivity and his eventual release.
U.S. Air Force captain Gary Sigler recounted the story of his near-death and survival through captivity in the Hanoi Hilton.
Shot card: ROLL: R36F-439 -HANOI -FIRST FLIGHT-14 MARCH 1973 Reel 8 1) CUs of Vietnamese people watching release ceremony. 2) Sequence showing returnees debarking bus, lining up, and stepping forward as their names are called: Lt Col H. C. Copeland, USAF; Lt Charles Zuhoski, USN; Capt Wallace Newcomb, USAF; Capt Carl Chambers, USAF; Maj Glenn Wilson, USAF; Capt Lauren Lengyel, USAF; Maj Glenn Myers, USAF; Maj Thomas Norris, USAF; Maj Thomas Parrott, USAF; Comdr Leo
Vietnam is often called “the war that won’t go away”, largely because of the continuing controversy of the POW/MIA (Prisoners Of War / Missing In Action) issue. Families of those who were POW/MIA in Vietnam organized an activist movement which went on to pursue a question which still haunts America nearly decades later: were soldiers left behind in captivity after the Vietnam War? Once the exclusive domain of a select fraternity of soldiers’ wives, the
