Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
prisisisisisison.
>> Rowe: The 1960's.
Deeply entrenched in war and
unwilling to give it up for a
loss, the U.S. unleashed daily
air strikes on North Vietnam.
When a plane was shot down,
pilots all too often found
themselvlvlvlvlvlvlves in enemy.
Of these captured servicemen,
perhaps none met worse fates
than those condemned to the Hoa
Lo Prison, dubbed the "Hanoi
Hilton" by American servicemen.
>> Mickey Grant: It's got guard
towers every about, uh, 30 feet,
and then on the top, it's got
bababababarbed wire.
It's made out of concrete, and
on top of the concrete, there
were a lot of shards of glass.
>> Rowe: Inside, the prison more
closely resembled a modern-day
dungeon.
New inmates were routinely
beaten and ordered to divulge
military secrets.
One such prisoner was future
Senator John McCain, who
returned to the prison 25 years
after his release.
In 1967, McCain was an American
pilot when his plane was blown
from the skies over Hanoi,
resulting in critical injuries
to both his arms and one leg.
The young man would spend the
next five years as a P.O.W., and
know the pain of the Hanoi
Hilton on a firsthand basis.
When the North Vietnamese
learned that he was the son of
an admiral, they offered an
early release.
But he adhered to the prisoner's
code of conduct and refused any
preferential treatatatatatatatm.
McCain and his fellow prisoners
endured deplorable conditions,
and many even contemplated
suicide.
But being kept under constant
supervision by guards, even that
escape was denied to prisoners.
>> Rowe: In 1973, the signing of
the Paris Peace Accords called
for the repatriation of all
P.O.W.s.
A total of 340 Americans had
lingered between life and death
within the walls of Hoa Lo
Prison; by some accounts, many
had simply disappeared.
For the survivors, the anguish
of captivity followed them home,
finally free from the Hanoi
Hilton, Vietnam's most feared
prison.