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U. S. Representative Sam Johnson of Texas Seven Years as a POW in the Hanoi. North Vietnam
American Forces Press Service ^ | 02/14/07 | Rudi Williams

Posted on 02/14/2007 3:46:21 AM PST by mware

-- About 10 days after being

shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese in April

1966, Sam Johnson's captors blindfolded him, put him on

trial, accused him of being a criminal and sentenced him to

death.

They marched him out into the woods and put him in front of

a five-man firing squad. As he prayed harder than he ever

had before in his life, Johnson said, the North Vietnamese

officer told the firing squad to shoot.

"They all went Click! Click! Chick! Click! Click!" said

Johnson, now a congressman from Texas. He was the keynote

speaker at the Pentagon's POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony

on Sept. 20. "I praised the Lord and laughed at them, and

they kicked me into a slit trench and left me there for a

while."

That was the beginning of nearly seven years of hell in a

prisoner of war camp for the Dallas native. He was shot

down over North Vietnam during his 25th combat mission on

April 16, 1966, and not released until Feb. 12, 1973.

Forty-two months of that time was spent in solitary

confinement.

Johnson was shot down during his second tour of duty in the

Vietnam War. His first tour was in 1965, when he worked at

MACV headquarters in Saigon where he helped set up the

first B-52 strikes. The former Thunderbirds flight

demonstration team pilot and director of the Air Force

Fighter Weapons School returned to Southeast Asia in 1966

and flew F-4 Phantom combat missions with the 8th Tactical

Fighter Wing in Thailand.

Johnson had flown 62 combat missions in F-86s during the

Korean War and recalled scoring one MiG fighter kill, one

probable and one damaged. Though he took his share of

enemy gunfire and flak, he emerged from the war unscathed.

He wasn't so lucky over North Vietnam.

"When I was captured I had a broken right arm, dislocated

left shoulder and a broken back," the 72-year-old

congressman said. "They took me to a house, kicked the

people out and put me in there with two guards. They took

another house over for my back seater, Larry Chesley. He

lives in Tucson, Ariz." Johnson used to be right-handed but

is left-handed now, he said, because his right arm never

totally healed -- his captors kept breaking it.

"Some of the guards made like they were doctors and put my

arm in a cast," he said. A couple of days later, people

beat them with sticks and stones as they walked through a

town headed to trucks bound for Hanoi.

"One of the guards got mad at me and threw me up against

the front of the truck and broke my arm again," he said.

Once the prisoners were on the truck, two guards separated

them so they couldn't talk to each other.

In Hanoi, he spent about a week in a room by himself with

little food and water. "Every day, they came in with a

table and tried to get military information out of you,"

Johnson said. "Fortunately, they never knew I was running

the fighter weapons school and had flown all those planes

and fired all those weapons. They never found out. Thank

God.

"They broke my arm again," he said. "They just took it and

twisted it all the way around to the front. I guess that

makes three times. It hurt so much that I really didn't

care what I did. So I didn't say anything. They spent a

week doing that without food or water. They did bring a

glass of water when they came in to interrogate you.

"I didn't tell them much, and after about a week they gave

up," Johnson noted. "A different group came in and said,

'We're going to let you go to your room,' which was a jail

cell in the Hanoi 'New Guy Village,' we called it. There

were two other guys there when I went in." Johnson said the

prisoners were fed mostly pumpkin soup.

"They used to pull grass out of the river and boil it and

feed it to us," he recalled. "Rice was a staple that they

fed us on occasion. They didn't mess that up. Fortunately I

never lost my appetite for rice, even back here."

The six-foot, two-inch former POW said he weighed about 195

pounds when he was captured and went down to about 120.

"When I was released, I weighed about 150 because they fed

us better and bumped our weight back up," he said.

Johnson said he coped with the ill treatment because the

Air Force trained him well. "Of course, they can't prepare

you for what you're actually going to encounter with an

enemy like that," he noted. "I just praised the Lord that I

was able to talk to him. I feel like without God on my

side, I would have never made it."

The whole ordeal was bad, but some days were worse than

others, the congressman said. "Eleven of us were moved to a

place we called 'Alcatraz' and they put us in leg irons for

two and a half years," he said. "We were all by ourselves

in separate cells and getting out, at the most, five

minutes a day just to get food and bring it back in -- if

you want to call it food."

But those really weren't the worst times, Johnson said. He

said they were in deep trouble one time when a prisoner hit

a guard.

"They put me in leg stocks for 72 days," he said. "I was

completely alone. There were no other Americans around I

could even tap on the wall to. There were just bugs,

spiders, flies, mosquitoes and me.

"Seventy-two days in leg stocks is no fun," he continued.

"I knew the Lord was with me because on the 72nd day, a

typhoon came through and blew the covers off the windows.

That very day they came in and took me out of those stocks

and said 'We're going to take you to interrogation.' I

couldn't walk, so two guards carried me over and stuck me

on a stool and this officer said, 'Now we're going to kill

you!'

"I said, yeah, yeah, be my guest," he said. "After that, it

kind of eased off a little bit. Ho Chi-Minh's death caused

a change in their policy. It changed from bad to not quite

so bad for a while. Then, finally, ... we knew release was

imminent. You could tell by the food they started feeding

us -- sugar and stuff like that."

Asked if he ever suffered flashbacks, Johnson said, "People

tell me that we were not normal when we got back. I accused

them of being wrong for a long time. But looking back on

it, I think it took about a year to assimilate back into

society -- for some of the guys, more than that.

"You learn a lot about yourself and how to survive in a POW

camp," the congressman said. "Fortunately, we were able to

communicate a little bit by tapping on the wall using a

special tap code. So you knew other Americans were around,

even though you didn't see them.

"I committed, originally, about 374 names to memory just

from tapping on the wall. We were all trying to memorize

names in case anybody got out. So you knew the names, but

you didn't have any idea of what they looked like. Most of

the time, you never saw another American, except

occasionally through a crack in a door."

He said knowing other Americans were there "gave you a

backbone, and you knew you weren't there by yourself, even

though I was by myself."

He said he thought of his family all the time and hoped

they were all right. "My wife didn't know for two and a

half years that I was anything but MIA -- missing in

action," said Johnson. "Finally they told her that I was a

POW. Even then she didn't get any correspondence. Nor did

they let me write to her for about four years."

Johnson said he always felt he'd see his wife, Shirley, and

children again. The Johnsons today have three children, 10

grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

But back then, he said, there were guys who'd given up

hope. The other prisoners had a hard time keeping them

pumped up.

"We said our government would never leave us there,

although the Vietnamese tried to persuade us of that every

day," Johnson said. "That's why I've been fighting ever

since I've been in Congress as part of the POW/MIA

commission to make sure we never leave anybody behind."


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; US: Texas; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: samjohnson; texas
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This is a blurb about Congressman Johnson from 2002. He is scheduled to speak tomorrow about his experiences while he was a POW, right before the vote tomorrow.

He spoke briefly yesterday about what it was like as a POW, when Congress defunded the troops in Nam. This is going to be required listening. In the brief comments from yesterday, people were weeping openly behind him.

1 posted on 02/14/2007 3:46:24 AM PST by mware
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To: mware

Those sitting in the House listening to him are not fit to shine this mans shoes.


2 posted on 02/14/2007 3:47:55 AM PST by mware (By all that you hold dear.. on this good earth... I bid you stand! Men of the West!)
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To: mware

Bless this man and his entire family. He is the epitome of patriotism and heroism.


3 posted on 02/14/2007 3:53:20 AM PST by OldFriend (Swiftboating - Sinking a politician's Ship of Fools by Torpedoes of Truth)
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To: OldFriend

Had to do a search to confirm my thoughts that he was indeed a Republican. Not mentioned of course in the article.


4 posted on 02/14/2007 3:56:38 AM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists...call 'em what you will...They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: mware
NOW!THIS IS A REAL WAR HERO!

For all of you McCain apologist out there.
5 posted on 02/14/2007 3:56:51 AM PST by Coldwater Creek
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To: mariabush

As much as I cannot stand McCain, the leadership he demonstrated while a POW was, in fact, quite heroic.

A more correct comment would be, "Johnson is a war hero, too."


6 posted on 02/14/2007 4:00:04 AM PST by PurpleMan
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To: mware

Notice no mention that it is Sam Johnson (R)!


7 posted on 02/14/2007 4:01:32 AM PST by Coldwater Creek
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To: mware

And to think there are folks here who want to now "normalize" relations with those people...


8 posted on 02/14/2007 4:03:34 AM PST by wastoute
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To: PurpleMan

I don't know how to do links, but you might want to do a little checking as to just how much a "hero" McCain wasn't.

Three days in captivity, and he was ready to sell the US out. This was after only two missions. No hero to this Navy family!


9 posted on 02/14/2007 4:05:27 AM PST by Coldwater Creek
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To: mariabush
In fairness to the reporter this article is from 2002. I just wanted to highlite his story because he is speaking tomorrow during the debate about defunding the war.

I saw a clip of him speaking yesteday (segment on F&FR this morning)I sure hope the R's make sure it is primetime when he speaks. He will shame them into not voting for defunding.

Sre wish he would join us at The Gathering of Eagles on March 17th.

10 posted on 02/14/2007 4:08:46 AM PST by mware (By all that you hold dear.. on this good earth... I bid you stand! Men of the West!)
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To: mware
He thinks he had it tough! They obviously never used the panty technique on him. Not that those little yellow bastards wouldn't have done it if they had thought of it.
11 posted on 02/14/2007 4:10:55 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

LOL!


12 posted on 02/14/2007 4:25:03 AM PST by Coldwater Creek
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To: mariabush

What an impressive American. Its a shame, the congress critters could'nt learn a thing or two from this fine man.


13 posted on 02/14/2007 4:36:51 AM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: mware

He is my Congressman and lives in Plano Tx. I did some work on his house while he was away in Washington. I even spoke about an issue we were having with China with his wife. I believe it had to do with special trade status or something. She was very nice and explained Mr.Johnsons vote to me, very respectful. Their house is a very normal home built in the 70's or early 80's.


14 posted on 02/14/2007 4:53:27 AM PST by nativist
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To: PurpleMan

Since McC acknowledged giving ship positions in exchange for medical treatment I can not fault him, nor can I put him in the same hero category as this man.


15 posted on 02/14/2007 4:53:39 AM PST by OldFriend (Swiftboating - Sinking a politician's Ship of Fools by Torpedoes of Truth)
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To: mariabush

The MSM medai doesnt even know who he is. They sure as hell know who John Murtha is. Murtha gets all the TV time he wants and this man is never on TV. Gee, I wonder why.


16 posted on 02/14/2007 4:59:10 AM PST by Long Island Pete
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To: rockinqsranch

This man was quite active in the defeat of jon carry.


17 posted on 02/14/2007 5:04:57 AM PST by OldFriend (Swiftboating - Sinking a politician's Ship of Fools by Torpedoes of Truth)
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To: OldFriend

You can't fault who for giving up our ship's positions? McCain or Johnson?


18 posted on 02/14/2007 5:07:09 AM PST by Coldwater Creek
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To: mware

I agree.


19 posted on 02/14/2007 5:08:51 AM PST by sport
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To: mariabush

McCAIN gave up ship positions .....Johnson gave up no information despite horrific treatment.


20 posted on 02/14/2007 5:11:34 AM PST by OldFriend (Swiftboating - Sinking a politician's Ship of Fools by Torpedoes of Truth)
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