list of hanoi hilton prisoners

Conditions were appalling. In some cases, the names were not previously contained on lists of prisoners compiled from various sources. Then, bowed or bent in half, the prisoner was hoisted up onto the hook to hang by ropes. [16] Although North Vietnam was a signatory of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949,[16] which demanded "decent and humane treatment" of prisoners of war, severe torture methods were employed, such as rope bindings, irons, beatings, and prolonged solitary confinement. It was introduced in June 1965 by four POWs held in the Ha L ("Hanoi Hilton") prison: Captain Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, Lieutenant Phillip Butler, Lieutenant Robert Peel, and Lieutenant Commander Robert Shumaker. GOODERMOTE, Lieut. Comdr. DAVIES, Capt. - Box cutters American POWs in North Vietnam were released in early 1973 as part of Operation Homecoming, the result of diplomatic negotiations concluding U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. American POWs gave them nicknames: Alcatraz, Briarpatch, Dirty Bird, the Hanoi Hilton, the Zoo. The prison was demolished in the 90s and is now the site of a historical museum. Glenn H., Navy, Napoleonville, La. The mission included 54 C-141 flights between Feb. 12 and April 4, 1973, returning 591 POWs to American soil. Significant numbers of Americans were also captured during Operation Linebacker between May and October 1972 and Operation Linebacker II in December 1972, also known as the "Christmas Bombings". [14], Beginning in October 1969, the torture regime suddenly abated to a great extent, and life for the prisoners became less severe and generally more tolerable. [9] From the beginning, U.S. POWs endured miserable conditions, including poor food and unsanitary conditions. One of the prerequisites for and provisions of the accords was the return of all U.S. prisoners of war (POWs). Hoa Lo's 20-foot walls, topped with barbed wire and broken glass, made escape nearly impossible. Although its explosions lit the night sky and shook the walls of the camp, scaring some of the newer POWs,[30] most saw it as a forceful measure to compel North Vietnam to finally come to terms. Wikimedia CommonsThe Hanoi Hilton in 1970. The POWs had a "first in, first out" interpretation of the Code of the U.S. Fighting Force, meaning they could only accept release in the order they had been captured, but making an exception for those seriously sick or badly injured. [37] Tran Trong Duyet, a jailer at Hoa Lo beginning in 1968 and its commandant for the last three years of the war, maintained in 2008 that no prisoners were tortured. The remaining 266 consisted of 138 United States Naval personnel, 77 soldiers serving in the United States Army, 26 United States Marines and 25 civilian employees of American government agencies. Even when the North Vietnamese offered McCain an early release hoping to use him as a propaganda tool McCain refused as an act of solidarity with his fellow prisoners. [4] Within the prison itself, communication and ideas passed. [10]:1034. After the war, Risner wrote the book Passing of the Night detailing his seven years at the Hanoi Hilton. These liaison officers worked behind the scenes traveling around the United States assuring the returnees' well being. American pilots continued to be captured over the north between 1965 and 1968 as part of Operation Rolling Thunder, the sustained aerial bombing campaign against North Vietnam. [16], Operation Homecoming's return of American POWs from Vietnam (aka "Egress Recap") was the subject of David O. Strickland's novel, "The First Man Off The Plane" (Penny-a-Page Press, 2012). U.S. officials saw this tape and Denton was later awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery. The list that the North Vietnamese turned over to American officials in Paris today named 27 American civilians as prisoners of the Vietcong, and listed seven other Americans as having died in captivity. The Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, Vietnam, was dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American prisoners of war (POWs). Bruce R., Marines, Pensacola, Fla., captured March, 1968. Jose Jesus, Jr., Marines, Retlugio, Texas, captured January, 1970. WASHINGTON, Jan. 27The State Department tonight released the list of American civilians acknowledged by North Vietnam as having been captured in South Vietnam during the Vietnam war. Only one room in the back is dedicated to American POWs, though it doesnt make any reference to torture there are even videos detailing the kind treatment of the prisoners alongside photos of Americans playing sports on the prison grounds. Inside The Hanoi Hilton, North Vietnams Torture Chamber For American POWs. Aubrey A., Navy, listed previously as Texan. Gareth L., Navy, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Hanoi Hilton was depicted in the 1987 Hollywood movie The Hanoi Hilton. [11] Such POW statements would be viewed as a propaganda victory in the battle to sway world and U.S. domestic opinion against the U.S. war effort. FREEAdmission & Parking, Prison locations in North Vietnam. The first fighter pilot captured in North Vietnam was Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Everett Alvarez, Jr., who was shot down on August 5, 1964, in the aftermath of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.[3]. Cmdr. From 1961 to 1973, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong held hundreds of Americans captive in North Vietnam, and in Cambodia, China, Laos, and South Vietnam. Tames, Navy, Lakeland, Fla., captured October, 1965. Kenneth H., Navy, home town unknown, captured. That delightful day in 1973 would not be the last time that some of the prisoners would see the Hanoi Hilton. [25], Most of the prison was demolished in the mid-1990s and the site now contains two high-rise buildings, one of them the 25-story Somerset Grand Hanoi serviced apartment building. - Diaper bags dell, Marines, Newport, N. C. MILLER, Lieut. They drew strength from one another, secretly communicating via notes scratched with sooty matches on toilet paper, subtle hand gestures, or code tapped out on their cell walls. Comdr. BRADY, Capt. [3] During the early part of Operation Homecoming, groups of POWs released were selected on the basis of longest length of time in prison. DANIELS, Cmdr. Guards would return at intervals to tighten them until all feeling was gone, and the prisoners limbs turned purple and swelled to twice their normal size. David Hume Kennerly/Getty ImagesAmerican POW soldiers line up at the Hanoi Hilton prior to their release. They even used this code to tell jokes a kick on the wall meant a laugh. BUDD, Sgt. So the Vietnamese moved them to a remote outpost, the one the POWs called Alcatraz. Anyone can read what you share. [14] In 1967, McCain joined the prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton after his plane was shot down. TELLIER, Sgt. The deal would come to be known as Operation Homecoming and began with three C-141 transports landing in Hanoi on February 12, 1973 to bring the first released prisoners home. (U.S. Air Force photo), DAYTON, Ohio - Typical bowls, plate and spoons issued to POWs. By May 1973, the Watergate scandal dominated the front page of most newspapers causing the American public's interest to wane in any story related to the war in Vietnam. This, of course, earned him additional torture. Edward H., Navy, Coronado, Calif: MAYHEW, Lieut. - Food and Soda Drinks It was originally deliberated to hold Vietnamese . - Alcohol Unlike U.S. service members captured in World War II and the Korean War, who were mostly enlisted troops, the overwhelming majority of Vietnam-era POWs were officers, most of them Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps airmen; a relatively small number of Army enlisted personnel were also captured, as well as one enlisted Navy seaman, Petty Officer Doug Hegdahl, who fell overboard from a naval vessel. These details are revealed in famous accounts by McCain (Faith of My Fathers), Denton, Alvarez, Day, Risner, Stockdale and dozens of others. Williams J., Air Force, not named in previous public lists. Charles R., Navy, Miramar, Calif. HAINES, Comdr. Conditions at the Briarpatch were notoriously grim, even by the standards of North Vietnamese prisons. David Hume Kennerly/Getty ImagesAmerican POW soldiers inside their jail cell at the Hanoi Hilton prior to their release. Prisoners were variously isolated, starved, beaten, tortured, and paraded in anti-American propaganda. Wikimedia CommonsJohn McCains alleged flight suit and parachute, on the display at the former Hanoi Hilton. Izvestia, a Soviet newspaper, accused The Pentagon of brainwashing the men involved in order to use them as propaganda, while some Americans claimed the POWs were collaborating with the communists or had not done enough to resist pressure to divulge information under torture. The Hoa Lo Prison was built by the French in Hanoi from 1886 to 1889 and from 1898 to 1901 when the country was part of French Indochina. Who was the most famous prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton? The Alcatraz Gang was a group of eleven POWs who were held separately because of their particular resistance to their captors. Prisoners were variously isolated, starved, beaten, tortured, and paraded in anti-American propaganda. COLLINS, Major Thomas Edward, Air Force, Jackson, Mississippi, captured Oct. 1965. [27], Only part of the prison exists today as a museum. Albert R., Navy, San Diego, captured Spring 1972. [2] By 1954 it held more than 2000 people;[1] with its inmates held in subhuman conditions,[3] it had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation and of the bitterness of the Vietnamese towards the French. After reading about the gruesome conditions that awaited American POWs in the Hanoi Hilton, read about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which first sparked the Vietnam War. [10]:79 No matter the opinion of the public, the media became infatuated with the men returned in Operation Homecoming who were bombarded with questions concerning life in the VC and PAVN prison camps. At the end of the war, these soldiers were finally freed from their own personal hell, many of them including the late Arizona Senator John McCain going on to become prominent politicians and public figures. [citation needed]. BRUDNO, Capt. (j.g.) The men had missed events including the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the race riots of 1968, the political demonstrations and anti-war protests, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon and the release of The Godfather. Duluth, Minn. WOODS, Lieut. List of Famous Prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton ranked by fame and popularity. John McCain was captured in 1967 at a lake in Hanoi after his Navy warplane was been downed by the North Vietnamese. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. [We realize], over time, that we all fall short of what we aspire to be. Cmdr. [19] As another POW later said, "To this day I get angry with myself. Meanwhile, Paul was taken prisoner, tortured, placed in solitary confinement in what became known as the "Hanoi Hilton" and fed a diet that was later determined to be about 700 calories a day, which caused him to drop to about 100 pounds. [19] The North Vietnamese also maintained that their prisons were no worse than prisons for POWs and political prisoners in South Vietnam, such as the one on Cn Sn Island. One escape, which was planned to take place from the Hanoi Hilton, involved SR-71 Blackbirds flying overhead and Navy SEALs waiting at the mouth of the Red . SERE instructor. "People & Events: The Hanoi March", PBS American Experience. Accounted-For: This report includes the U.S. personnel whose remains have been recovered and identified since the end of the war. American POW soldiers inside their jail cell at the Hanoi Hilton prior to their release. But you first must take physical torture. Hundreds were tortured there with meat hooks and iron chains including John McCain. [5], During the Vietnam War, the first U.S. prisoner to be sent to Ha L was Lieutenant Junior Grade Everett Alvarez Jr., who was shot down on August 5, 1964. Synonymous in the U.S. with torture of American pilots captured during the Vietnam War . At the same time, the Defense Department began releasing, in batches, the names of the military prisoners in Communist hands who were on the list turned over in Paris along with the civilians. The ropes were tightened to the point that you couldnt breathe. Two months later, in what became known as the Hanoi March, 52 American prisoners of war were paraded through the streets of Hanoi before thousands of North Vietnamese civilians. [35] However, eyewitness accounts by American servicemen present a different account of their captivity. troops. Multiple POWs contracted beriberi at the camp due to severe malnutrition. On a scrap of toilet paper that he hid in the wall by the toilets, he wrote, Welcome to the Hanoi Hilton. HANOI, Vietnam Going inside the stone walls of the prison sarcastically dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton" brings a respite from the honking traffic outside until the iron shackles, dark cells and guillotine hammer home the suffering that went on there. Those listed as having died in captivity include the following: Gustav Hertz, Joseph Grainger, John S. Henry, Daniel L. Niehouse, Tanos E. Kalil, Henry F. Blood, and Betty Olsen. AFP/Getty ImagesJohn McCain was captured in 1967 at a lake in Hanoi after his Navy warplane was been downed by the North Vietnamese. Robinson Risner and James Stockdale, two senior officers who were the de facto leaders of the POWs, were held in solitary for three and four years, respectively. It was also located near the Hanoi French Quarter. (DoD April 1991 list) Hamilton, Roger D. USMC last known alive (DoD April 1991 list) Hamm, James E. USAF . March 14, 1973. After the war, Risner wrote the book Passing of the Night detailing his seven years at Ha L. The rule entailed that the prisoners would return home in the order that they were shot down and captured. Nevertheless, the aircraft has been maintained as a flying tribute to the POWs and MIAs of the Vietnam War and is now housed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Weapons, Return with Honor: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia. During the 1910s through 1930s, street peddlers made an occupation of passing outside messages in through the jail's windows and tossing tobacco and opium over the walls; letters and packets would be thrown out to the street in the opposite direction. Comdr. "It's easy to die but hard to live," a prison guard told one new arrival, "and we'll show you just how hard it is to live." WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (AP) Following are names of United States servicemen on a prisonerofwar list provided today by the North Vietnamese, It was compiled from Defense Department releases and reports of families who received confirmation their men were on the list from Pentagon officials. Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil. Cmdr, Robert D Navy, Garden City, Mo. [22], Despite several escape attempts, no U.S. POW successfully escaped from a North Vietnamese prison, although James N. Rowe successfully escaped from North Vietnamese captivity. ANZALDUA, Sgt. [37] Tin stated that there were "a few physical hits like a slap across the face, or threats, in order to obtain the specific confessions," and that the worst that especially resistant prisoners such as Stockdale and Jeremiah Denton encountered was being confined to small cells. Robert E., Navy, Ohio, and Lemoore, Calif., captured May, 1972. The treatment and ultimate fate of U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam became a subject of widespread concern in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of Americans wore POW bracelets with the name and capture date of imprisoned U.S. service members.[1]. Some of the repatriated soldiers, including Borling and John McCain, did not retire from the military, but instead decided to further their careers in the armed forces.[6]. The first flight of 40 U.S. prisoners of war left Hanoi in a C-141A, which later became known as the "Hanoi Taxi" and is now in a museum. MILLER, Lieu, Edwin F., Navy, Franklin Lakes, N. J. MOBLEY, Lieut, Joseph S., Navy, Manhattan Beach, Calif. MOLINARE, Lieut. US Prisoners of War who returned alive from the Vietnam War Sorted by Name Military Service Country of Incident Name Date of Incident Date of Rank Return USAF N. Vietnam BEENS, LYNN RICHARD O3 1972/12/21 1973/03/29 USN N. Vietnam BELL, JAMES FRANKLIN O4 1965/10/16 1973/02/12 CIVILIAN S. Vietnam BENGE, MICHAEL 1968/01/28 1973/03/05 ANGUS, Capt. William Kerr, Marines, not named in previous public lists. Dennis A., Marines, not named in previous lists. Rio Helmi/LightRocket/Getty ImagesDuring the French colonial period, Vietnamese prisoners were detained and tortured at the Ha L prison. After Operation Homecoming, the U.S. still listed about 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action and sought the return of roughly 1,200 Americans reported killed in action and body not recovered. Air Force pilot Ron Bliss later said the Hanoi Hilton sounded like a den of runaway woodpeckers.. Home. For the 1987 film, see, (later Navy Rear Admiral Robert H. Shumaker). Everett, Jr. Navy, Santa Clara, Calif., captured August, 1964. RIVERS, Capt. During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese did the same to American soldiers. George K., Jr., Army, Foxboro, Mass., captured April, 1972. (jg.) - Water bottles (clear, sealed bottle, up to 20 oz.) [21] Many POWs speculated that Ho had been personally responsible for their mistreatment. [15], In the end, North Vietnamese torture was sufficiently brutal and prolonged that nearly every American POW so subjected made a statement of some kind at some time. [3] A 1913 renovation expanded its capacity from 460 inmates to 600. In addition to memoirs, the U.S. POW experience in Vietnam was the subject of two in-depth accounts by authors and historians, John G. Hubbell's P.O.W. As many as 114 American POWs died in captivity during the Vietnam War, many within the unforgiving walls of the Hanoi Hotel. MOORE, Lieut. March 14, 1973. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Jeremiah Denton later said, They beat you with fists and fan belts. list of hanoi hilton prisonersearthquake today in germany. These details are revealed in accounts by McCain (Faith of My Fathers), Denton, Alvarez, Day, Risner, Stockdale and dozens of others. Finally, after the U.S. and North Vietnam agreed to a ceasefire in early 1973, the 591 American POWs still in captivity were released. Also shown is a toothbrush a POW received from a package from home, a towel that was issued to POWs, a sweater issued to Lt. Jack Butcher, a brick from the "Hanoi Hilton," a fan used during the hottest months and a folding fan. [11][13] The goal of the North Vietnamese was to get written or recorded statements from the prisoners that criticized U.S. conduct of the war and praised how the North Vietnamese treated them. The American soldier followed his instructions, and even managed to leave his own note, identifying himself as Air Force Capt. [4][11][20] North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh had died the previous month, possibly causing a change in policy towards POWs. [citation needed] Mistreatment of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese prisoners and South Vietnamese dissidents in South Vietnam's prisons was indeed frequent, as was North Vietnamese abuse of South Vietnamese prisoners and their own dissidents. Douglas Brent Hegdahl III (born September 3, 1946) is a former United States Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class (E-5) who was held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. The agreement also postulated for the release of nearly 600 American prisoners of war (POWs) held by North Vietnam and its allies within 60 days of the withdrawal of U.S. Giles R Navy, Albany, Ga., Sanford, Fla. PENN, Lieut. McCain spent five and a half years at the Hanoi Hilton, a time that he documented in his 1999 book Faith of My Fathers. McCain was subjected to rope bindings and beatings during his time as a POW. en-route to Hanoi. Among the last inmates was dissident poet Nguyn Ch Thin, who was reimprisoned in 1979 after attempting to deliver his poems to the British Embassy, and spent the next six years in Ha L until 1985 when he was transferred to a more modern prison. This Pentagon . [28] Such prisoners were sometimes sent to a camp reserved for "bad attitude" cases.

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