Words escape me - words are not sufficient.
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Friday, October 08, 2010
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I'm going to be spending some quality time with the list of Southern cocktails from Garden & Gun through the new year.
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26 comments:
I was there... as a 6th grader on Clark Air Base in the Philippines. This is all very fuzzy but this is what I remember:
My mother warned me that we needed to be quiet as we had no idea what was the mental state of the first POWs that arrived. We all were very quiet and respectful until Adm. Denton's words, though even then we settled down quickly.
Ironically, my mother, who, as both an officer's wife and an RN, voluteered to help the hospital during "Operation Homecoming" was questioned by the POWs as to why the crowd wasn't more excited... Was it true that everyone was against the war as they had been told? The subsequent flights we made sure that they got the appropriate cheering
when captured, without a weapon, against cruel enemy, to stay loyal and proud...
Truly Fullbore!
I was a midshipman when the POWs came home, and they came back to USNA and spoke on numerous occasions to the brigade. I'm choking up now as I remember their stories and how they survived the brutal conditions and inhumaneof treatment, yet were so positive about life, their service and the military in general. Its a lesson that should be taught now.
I grew up in Coronado in the 50's and 60's. I had high school classmates who's father's were POW's and the Stockdale kids were eveywhere (they raised a passel of 'em; and Sybil, of course had the major billet) I count among my two highest honors in the 31 years, 6 months I served to be able to say I served on RADM Stockdale's staff and that my wings were pinned on by my favorite Advanced instructor, Dick Tangeman (RVAH-1 RA-5 Nav, shot down 05MAY69). Being in their presence makes one understand humility.
My neighborhood contributed close to 10% of the USN POWs.
More here...
And here.
I remember the dumbfounded media. Those were NOT the first few words spoken into a microphone by a released POW that they were expecting, or in most cases, capable of understanding.
Where do we find such men?
Did anyone catch the words of the ABC Anchor when he described North Vietnam as the enemy?
Great Fullbore!
I remember when they came home, and watching the news reports live as they descended the stairs and were welcomed home. Later, reading their stories and listening to some who flew with them, it just amazed me how much someone could endure.
The sad part to me is that there are still some who we know were captured alive, but were never seen or heard from again.
He also called them "reds". Love it. I wish our current "journalists" had such common sense and were as forthright.
Or were either outright killed, or allowed to die by neglect in captivity...
At least one Fullbore Soul did manage to quickly uncapture himself...
Forgot to add...
The V gave Frank the hands up signal and started to force him toward the
beach. But each time the F4 escort, and by one report the newly arrived
Sandys, made a low pass toward the beach, the soldiers would duck under the
water while holding their weapons above the water. Frank saw the rescue
helo inbound and he made his decision--it was now or never. On the next
pass Frank pulled out his automatic and snatched one rifle away from the
soldier's hands. The soldier aimed at Frank and pulled the trigger on
Frank's pistol. Frank always left the first two chambers of his pistol
empty. As the pistol clicked on the empty chamber, Frank shot the soldier
between the eyes. As the second soldier surfaced Frank knocked him silly
with a blow to the head, took his AK-47 and threw it it away in the surf (he
later told Irv Williams that he didn't know why he didn't just shoot the
guy).
Frank then got up on a sandbar and started running toward the inbound
chopper. The soldier recovered his weapon, was about 100 yds behind, and
began to shoot. Frank stopped, held up his hands. The V stopped shooting.
Frank saved a few valuable seconds as the helo pressed in. Frank fired again
and began to run. The same thing happened a second time before the chopper
arrived, turned broadside and machine gunned the soldier. Frank was rescued
and returned to Kitty Hawk.
So, thats the Navy I knew when I was growing up...
I can tell you some of those folks would have trouble surviving today though.
October 19, 2007. My last day in uniform was spent at Arlington National Cemetary attending the funeral service of Maj. Robert G. Lapham, USAF, whose A-1 Skyraider was shot down 2/8/1968, Quang Tri, Vietnam. Crash site was investigated several times between 1993-2004. Maj. Lapham's remains were identified in 2006 and the family (My step-father) was officially notified.
Tim, we can all rest easy that the fine men and women of Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) will not rest until they are ALL brought home. My hat is off to them, to all of the POW's who came home, and to all who will come home soon.
If I taught English at USNA I would make his book "When Hell Was in Session" the first thing the incoming freshmen read each semester.
If you haven't read it, put it on your list.
I had the honor to meet and listen to CDR Jeremiah Denton at Ft Story, VA back in the early 90s. I will never, ever forget that man or his words to us.
I was serving aboard a DE in San Diego when they came home had the good fortune of meeting and working with several Vietnam POWs over the years. To a man the ones I knew were honorable individuals who had something to teach the rest of us about loyalty and duty. Much later, in Newport, we asked CAPT Dick Stratton to present the annual GMT lecture on the Code of Conduct to a standing room only crowd aboard my frigate. I'll always remember his statement that the captor can always break you but it's what happens the following day that separates those who do their duty from the rest. He said that those who survived captivity with their honor intact were the ones who got up the next morning and said, in essence, "Well, you won yesterday. Today's another day."
Some of the finest this nation has ever, or will ever, produce. My father was captured by the North Koreans, but escaped with one other first lieutenant. Said he always felt guilty knowing that others were captured last seen alive, but were never heard from again. Have heard several POWs speak and amazingly all hold no malice towards their torturers. That shows their true character.
I read the book, <span>Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973, on my most recent deployment. It amazes me what all of those folks went through. Whether it was the guys that were captured by the Pathet Lao, the Viet Cong, or the North Vietnamese. I also had a chance to meet a couple of the guys from the Intruder community who spent some time as guests of the Vietnamese, they are amazing in what they had to deal with and some of thier grace in the afterwards also amazed me. </span>
My Code of Conduct at OCS Newport was delivered by Dick Stratton. I'll never forget the story of the enlisted man who was there because he fell overboard and who was ordered to go home, having memorized the names of all the POWs. That was Hegdahl who Capt Strattom pointed out destroyed a track by slipping sand into the gas tank, proving himself a more effective warrior than any of the officers in the camp.
I also remember him calling out at one point "That whore Jane Fonda ..."
I had the privilege of meeting and speaking at length with Captain Jim Mulligan when I was in college. At the time, he was only ten years removed from his release. He inscribed a copy of his book, "The Hanoi Commitment", for me. It is one of my prized possessions and occupies an honored place among my books.
Also looked into having a student organization of which I was an officer sponsor then-Senator Denton as a speaker. By then he was much in demand, between his official duties and the exposure he recieved from "When Hell Was In Session" and we couldn't make things work, much to my (and others') dissappoinment.
I work for the FedEx Corporation in sales. On or about the 2003-2005 time frame, we have a POW from Vietnam speak to the National Sales Convention in Orlando.
He walked a few feet, stopped turned around, walked the same distance, stopped, turned around again. It was on a wood stage, so you could hear his steps. He did this for a fair amount of his time as he was speaking to us. The visual was powerful.
It was the distance of his cell at the Hanoi Hilton.
I've never seen 3,000 sales professionals listen and keep their mouth shut for an hour. It was likely the most powerful, inspiring speach I've ever seen. He was clearly a personal friend of Fred Smith, a marine aviator flying from Oriskany, and our Chairman.
He was a naval aviator, and unfortunately his name escapes me. His speach was about not allowing us to be stuck in a box as professionals. Powerful stuff, inspiring...............
Wish I remembered who he was.
i am now, have been and ever shall be a member of the group "The Three Million".
that is the three million individuals that swore on separation that they would never stand in line EXCEPT to urinate on Jane Fondas' grave.
this is not to be confused with the group "the hundred thousand" which volunteers to build the sewage system for said interrment.
C
Wharf, perhaps it was Jerry Coffee ?
I know he has a sucessful gig as a keynote speaker.
DB, If you haven't done so you should read VADM Stockdale's artcle "The World of Epictetus" (it's short and available on line) an excellent, philosophical account of how different individuals reacted to their POW experience. It was required in the ethics elective that he established at the War College, which I took while a student there.
Dick Stratton used the example of Doug Hegdahl often when he gave this presentation and it was especially effective with the junior enlisted guys. He made clear each time that Hegdahl was the only POW who had been authorized to return home by the POW leadership.
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