American pilots and soldiers captured during the Vietnam War faced years of torture and mistreatment. Some of the prisoners of war endured almost nine years of imprisonment, the longest in U.S. history. During this time, the POWs were rarely given medical treatment. Their food was often nothing more than pieces of bread and watery soup filled with rat droppings. But despite the horrible conditions, the men stuck together and helped each other survive their ordeal.
The Men We Left Behind: Henry Kissinger, the Politics of Deceit and the Tragic Fate of Pows After the Vietnam War
The omnipresence of black flags featuring the bowed head of an American prisoner of war, which fly in front of most public buildings throughout the United States, and the high-profile coverage of POWs in the Persian Gulf War speak volumes about the emotional hold of the POW/MIA issue in this
