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Posted on 06/11/2003 3:23:49 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.
Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.
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In 1972-73, I was a young Air Force officer stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. It was one of the largest bases in the world, and was near the combat areas of Southeast Asia.  My thanks to Larry Chesley, Lt. Col. USAF Retired, one of those who came home, for allowing me to quote liberally from his book, "Seven Years in Hanoi". Thanks also to those who have commented on the earlier version of this page for allowing me to include their comments here. They have added much to my story and understanding of this event. The images are courtesy of the U.S. Air Force.  These are C-141 aircraft, the workhorse of the airlift fleet. They can be configured as medical evacuation aircraft, including litters for more seriously ill patients. Specially trained flight nurses, and sometimes doctors, serve on these special aircra ft. Here, several C-141s are lined up at Clark, waiting for the order to fly to Hanoi to bring our men home. The red crosses on their tails indicate their mission. No, that is not Mount Pinatubo, the famous volcano; it's Mount Arayat! Barry Crocker, a young man in aircraft maintenance at Clark during Homecoming, put the red cross on the tail of the first aircraft. He remembers running around the base trying to find red tape that would be strong enough to stay on, but he said the crosses were finally painted on. Barry also was a member of the block crew for the first airplane when it returned from Hanoi and he still feels the honor! That first C-141 is still flying and has become something of a memorial.   In posed photos, several of the men demonstrate POW life in a cell and the yard at the Hanoi Hilton. The lack of historical accuracy, however, was pointed out by Gordon "Swede" Larson who said that during almost 6 years as a POW, he never saw a bed. Everyone he knew slept on a cement bunk, planks on a sawhorse, or the floor! He also said that it was only during the last year that even a couple of the men were allowed outside together, and it was only during the last few weeks that more than a few were allowed out at the same time. Larry Chesley was a young officer who had been a POW for almost eight years. In his book, "Seven Years in Hanoi", he wrote: February 12th was a beautiful day in North Vietnam, - at least to 112 American POWs. We had received our going away clothes the night before and cleaned up our rooms as well as we could. We assembled in the courtyard and made our way under g uard to the gate of the Hanoi Hilton. This was the first time we had moved anywhere from there without being blindfolded and handcuffed.  These camouflaged buses carried the men to the airfield in Hanoi. Note the going away clothes: dark blue slacks, light blue shirts, a wind breaker, shoes and socks. Each also had a small bag for toiletries. The men came out in the order in which they had been captured. The first group had spent 6-8 years as prisoners of war  At Hanoi's Gia Lam airfield, the men marched in military style through the crowds. Maintaining their military bearing and discipline was a key to getting through the POW experience for many, as was their religious faith.  A group of Americans moves toward freedom. It was an overcast day, but beautiful to the POWs. Awaiting the POWs at the airfield was an American military commission. Larry wrote:  How good it was to see those United States uniforms again. As a Vietnamese officer read off our names one by one . . .  . . . we saluted Colonel Al Lynn, the U.S. officer in charge. He shook each of us by the hand...  ...Then a U.S. military escort walked us to the plane, giving us a hug of welcome as they did so.  There was one woman POW. We Americans never heard much about her, but I believe she was a German civilian nurse. As you can see, she had the same going away clothes as the men had.  Meanwhile, in South Vietnam, another group of Americans also prepared to go home. They were prisoners of the Viet Cong, and only a very few of those POWs survived to return to freedom. They were taken to a release point in a rural area, not a city. And as you can see, they left in the pajama-style prisoner uniforms that they had worn throughout their captivity.  The men from the South definitely appeared to be in worse condition than those from the North. But their joy that day was certainly at least as great as that of their comrades from the Hanoi Hilton Wayne Everingham was an aeromedical technician during Operation Homecoming. He commented that each of the newly freed men was dressed in the same colored clothing, carried a diddy bag and wore a very somber face. But that changed immediatedly to a beaming smile as they got inside of the aircraft - they hadn't wanted the Vietnamese to see any expression! All the POWs were flown to Clark in the medevac C-141s. Larry Chesley commented:  We were met at the door by pretty young ladies, the first American women we had seen in years. We sat down in the seats and looked around. Everything seemed like heaven. Just like heaven. When the doors of that C-141 closed, there were tears in the eyes of every man aboard.  I didn't know the details of this picture, but Wayne also told me this story. No one on the ground or in the aircraft had noticed the dog, but Wayne did so he asked about it. The man had zipped the dog into his diddy bag and somehow kept it quiet. It was just a stray that some of the Americans had befriended and made kind of a camp mascot. The man told Wayne that on the morning of this departure, the men were awakened early and given very short notice to load onto the bus, their first "official" notice of release. He saw the prison cook trying to catch the dog, so there wasn't much doubt about its fate! He broke ranks and got into an argument with the cook about the dog. The guards rushed in and because the American refused to board the bus and leave the dog, they gave in - they knew about the publicity that was focused on this release. The American took the dog with him and got on the bus.
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Admiral Stockdale (then a Commander), was the Commander of Carrier Air Wing 16, on board the carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34), when he flew on a mission with Attack Squadron 163 on September 9, 1965. On that mission, Commander Stockdale's A-4E Skyhawk, BuNo. 151134, was hit by enemy AAA fire and he was forced to eject from the aircraft over enemy territory. He was captured by the North Vietnamese and imprisoned for 7½ years, during which he suffered hideous torture, horrible abuse, debasement, and starvation. Promoted to the rank of Captain in absentia while a Prisoner of War, Stockdale was released from captivity at war's end in early 1973. Subsequently, he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, and then to Vice Admiral, the rank in which he retired from active duty. In 1992, Admiral Stockdale was a candidate for Vice President of the United States of America.
James B. Stockdale
Rank and organization: Rear Admiral (then Captain), of U.S. Navy Attack Squadron 163, operating from the USS Oriskany (CVA-34)
Place and date: Hoa Lo prison, Hanoi, North Vietnam, 3 September 1969
Entered Service at: Abingdon, Illinois
Born: 23 December 1923, Abingdon, Illinois
Citation:
For conspicous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while senior naval officer in the Prisoner of War camps of North Vietnam.
Recognized by his captors as the leader in the Prisoners' of War resistance to interrogation and in their refusal to participate in propaganda exploitation, Rear Admiral Stockdale was singled out for interrogation and attendant torture after he was detected in a covert communications attempt.
Sensing the start of another purge, and aware that his earlier efforts at self disfiguration to dissuade his captors from exploiting him for propaganda purposes had resulted in cruel and agonizing punishment, Rear Admiral Stockdale resolved to make himself a symbol of resistance regardless of personal sacrifice. He deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate. He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture toward all of the Prisoners of War.
I was given the above book by exemplary son-in-law otherly-named who attained his lifelong dream graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1994.
Admiral Stockdale was later invited to share the ticket with Ross Perot in 1992.
I had occasion to help build a home for Perot's partner Mort Myerson thereby meeting an EDP security person, "Duke".
Duke indicated by anecdote that Ross Perot is precisely the intrepid spirit apt to mount the rescue mission depicted in On Wings of Eagles.
Return With Honor is a very moving special. The tape is an open your eyes and shut your mouth experience--was for me.
Aid and Comfort: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam is a treason indictment for the piece of sewage known as Hanoi Jane.
I was honored to help my friends Hank and Erika Holzer in preproduction work.
Hank was invited by O'Reilly to square off with Fonda's ex-husband Tom Hayden--and cleaned Hayden's clock on-air.
The book makes it clear book, chapter and verse that Fonda committed treason, fulfilling all legal criteria.
The Holzers are lawyers; Hank is professor emeritus of Brooklyn Law and was Army Intel in Korea [Chief Order of Battle Analyst (Chinese Communist Forces) for Eighth Army].
They discussed their new book Fake Warriors on John Kasich's show on Fox recently.
The importance of the Vietnam War--in my opinion--cannot be overstated.
The Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China were stopped in their aggression.
Those who scoffed at the Domino Theory were struck dumb by the genocide in Cambodia and the invasion of Afghanistan.
The so-called Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force is a direct development of Vietnam.
Mike McGrath spent five years and nine months as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He was captured after a failed reconnaissance mission sent his aircraft to the ground. His captors transported him to the Hanoi Hilton where he endured a life of isolation, torture and misery. The beatings were frequent and the living conditions deplorable. As the war came to an end, Mike and other prisoners who survived were released. The images etched in Mike McGrath’s memory from his time spent in Hanoi were put to paper and published in the book Prisoner of War: Six Years in Hanoi. The following drawings and excerpts are from that book.
Here, I tried to depict the "Vietnamese rope trick." The arms are repeatedly cinched up until the elbows are forced together. Sometimes at this point the "hell cuffs" are applied. The "hell cuffs" are handcuffs which are put on the upper arms and pinched as tightly as possible onto the arms, cutting off the circulation. The resulting pain is extreme. If the prisoner has not broken down by this time, his arms are rotated until shoulders dislocate. Words could never adequately describe the pain, or the thoughts that go through a man's mind at a time like this.
Some men were tied to their beds, sometimes for weeks at a time. Here, I have drawn a picture showing the handcuffs being worn in front, but the usual position was with the wrists handcuffed behind the back. A man would live this way day and night , without sleep or rest. He could not lie down because his weight would cinch the already tightened cuffs even tighter, nor could he turn sideways.
The cuffs were taken off twice a day for meals. If the cuffs had been too tight, the fingers would be swollen and of little use in picking up a spoon or a cup.
Hopefully, a man could perform his bodily functions while the cuffs were momentarily removed at mealtimes. If not, he lived in his own mess.
I am looking forward to buying Ann Coulter's Treason, the account of the American Left's tireless efforts for the enemy from the Cold War to the War on Terror.
Behold the outrageous abuse of our prisoners and contrast it with the Left's bitching about the X-ray detainees.
Let's see Alec Baldwin and Barbara Streisand in the "rope trick" or let's see them drink a big glass of STFU.
Behold the outrageous abuse of our prisoners and contrast it with the Left's bitching about the X-ray detainees.
Let's see Alec Baldwin and Barbara Streisand in the "rope trick" or let's see them drink a big glass of STFU.
A virtual slap in the face to the left, no one can do that as good as you do it.
Every now and then I'm compelled to stop and tell you how much we appreciate your contributions of insight,education, and wonderful way with words that you provide the Foxhole. Thanks Phil.
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