Film Shows McCain's Release as POW

Aol/AP ^ | Sept.11, 2008 | MALIN RISING

[goldfinch]

A couple of comments...

A few weeks before the prisoners were released, they were given access to an open air area where they could actually talk and walk in a larger area. It was the first time many of the prisoners had actually seen each other, even though some had been in the same prison for years.

They also received larger portions of food and were fed more times each day. They had the opportunity to get baths and haircuts, along with clean clothes.

The kinder treatment was the way the prisoners knew that negotiations for their freedom were getting serious.

Oh...about McCain's walking without crutches. IIRC, a lot of the POWs had multiple surgeries to break and reset arms and legs that had healed incorrectly. That is most likely why McCain was using crutches in a later picture.

[fishhound]

Thank You. I did not know this at all.

[goldfinch]

Besides being old enough to remember too many details about the Vietnam war and the return of out POWs, I read a very inspiring book by a POW who was imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton. I do not remember the author, but if you are interested, I can look for the book tomorrow.

A few thing I remember offhand...

The prisoners communicated with each other using a tap code, which worked sort of like Morse code. Each letter of the alphabet corresponded with a series of taps. The POWs used to hold long conversations tapping out words and sentences. On holidays, they would tap out entire holiday menus. On each man's birthday, he got to describe his favorite birthday feast.

A more serious use of the tap code was to let the prisoners know the names of all the other prisoners. It was the duty of each man to be able to list from memory the names of all the other prisoners. That way, if any were released, they could let the United States government know the names of the POWs. IIRC, one prisoner was returned to the US...and he was able to give the US government a complete list of the POWs in the Hanoi Hilton. One of the great fears of those captured was that no one in the United States would know that they were still alive and needed to be accounted for when the US negotiated to get the POWs home.