Hanoi
Hilton
Presentation by Robert L. Martinez
All the People by Joy Hakim
Images as cited.
It was July 18, 1965, and U.S. Navy
Commander Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr., was
sitting in the cockpit of a bomb-loaded A6
airplane on the carrier Independence,
located in the Gulf of Tonkin.
http://www.dentongenealogy.org/jadpilot.jpg
http://www.craggs-castle.com/images/Independence62a.901.gif
http://www.warbirdphotos.net/aviapix/postww2/Attack/A6-Intruder/a6_cat.jpg
Gulf of Tonkin
http://911review.com/precedent/century/imgs/tonkin.jpg
The deck of an aircraft carrier seems huge,
but its runway isn’t long enough for a
normal takeoff. So the plane was catapulted
– off the deck.
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/aircraft-carrier-49.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/050817-N-3488C-028.jpg
http://www.artforlivinggallery.com/images/PhotoDraw10031.jpg
Denton was on his way to North Vietnam. As
he dropped his bombs over the target, near
Hanoi, he felt a jolt. His plane had been hit.
The controls were dead.
http://www.talkingproud.us/ImagesHistory/BirdDog/A6Intruder.jpg
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/survivability/sa2.jpg
Denton descended into the Ma River, was
picked up by Vietnamese soldiers, and
became a POW, a prisoner of war.
http://www.pjsinnam.com/VN_History/SEA_Photo_Albums/Misc_1/POW%20Capture.jpg
Denton was put in solitary confinement, which
means he was all alone in a tiny cell with
only a concrete bed, wooden stocks that
held his legs, and a bucket for a toilet.
photos.igougo.com
He was physically tortured, mentally
tortured, starved, and taken on a march
through Hanoi where people hit him and
spat on him.
http://www.powmiaff.org/Dumond/car_wall_ymd.jpg
For Denton, 1965 became 1966, and ’67, and
‘’68, and on, and on.
Commander Jeremiah Denton
www.blog.dentonfoundation.org/
Some 700 Americans were captured and held
in several prisons near Hanoi.
http://mattsteinglass.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/pows_1973.jpg
http://www.nydailynews.com/img/static/1973/news/feature2_alg_pows.jpg
They gave the prisons names like the Hanoi
Hilton, Dogpatch, Heartbreak, Alcatraz, and
Briarpatch.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/media/archives/cole.jpg
Former presidential candidate
& Senator John McCain
http://blog.cleveland.com/nationworld_impact/2008/10/large_mcainpowA.jpg
The prisoners kept their sanity and their
pride in themselves and their country by
defying their captors.
http://users.acninc.net/padipaul/pnl_07_2005_2her_files/image005.jpg
The POWs talked to each other by tapping on
the walls of their cells with a special code.
http://www.pjsinnam.com/VN_History/SEA_Photo_Albums/Misc_1/POW%20Capture.jpg
The American people disagreed about the war,
but everyone was in agreement when it
came to the POWs. We wanted them home.
http://redhatrob.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/vietnam_protest_rs.jpg
http://www.talkingphotography.com/images/FVRcoly-BernieFlowerPower.jpg
http://www.hht.net.au/__data/assets/image/0004/4099/Protest.jpg
http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/filmi_sangeet/media/1965_Antiwar%20_Protest.jpg
The Vietnamese soon realized that they had
important hostages. They filmed some of
the POWs, intending to show that they were
being well treated.
POW John McCain (former presidential candidate).
http://blog.indecision2008.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/johnmccain-pow.jpg
Commander Denton kept blinking his eyes.
Most people thought it was the bright
camera lights, but Denton was blinking
the word torture in Morse Code.
alphabetcity.blogspot.com
Eventually, President Nixon secured a
gradual withdraw of American troops from
Vietnam. In return, the North Vietnamese
released America’s POW’s.
http://www.granitegrok.com/pix/Nixon.jpg
http://cbertel.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/nixon-vietnam.jpg
http://scottthong.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/vietnam-soldiers-3.jpg
After seven years, our POWs were heading
home.
http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/News/1973/February/images/Feb12-POWsFlyingHome(NARA)(320).jpg
U.S. Senator John McCain returns home,
and is greeted by President Nixon
http://www.truthout.org/files/images/F2_092108Y3.jpg
These men had endured great hardship and
had survived America’s involvement in
Vietnam.
http://www.monroegallery.com/showcase/images/return_home.jpg
http://www.super70s.com/super70s/News/1973/February/images/Feb14-FirstPOWsReleased(AirForce)(180).jpg
Some 50,000 Americans who had been in S.E.
Asia would not return home with them.
http://www.vietnamwar.com/memorywall.jpg