Inside the ‘Hanoi Hilton’.

The Unlikely War Hero: A Vietnam War’s POW Story of Courage and Resilience in the Hanoi Hilton by Marc Leepson      

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Unlikely is the key word in the relaying of twenty year old Seaman Apprentice Doug Hegdahl’s story of captivity in North Vietnam.

Ending up in the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ after falling overboard from his ship the U.S.S. Canberra, a guided missile cruiser,  off North Vietnam in the South China Sea, the picture we have of Doug is an highly intelligent young man whose bumbling attitude covered an adept mind. The lowest ranking prisoner in the Hilton, Doug was dismissed as being importantly, or even capable.

The men he was imprisoned with, including Senator John McCain, are legend.

This is his and their stories and how against his wishes Doug was ordered by the camp higher command to take release as a POW to let the Pentagon know about POW’s who’d been listed as dead or MIA. Doug finally came home against his will, having memorized the details of  254 men and their condition.

An unsung hero of a war no-one in the end wanted I found it a testimony to the strength of mind of many of these men.

Their suffering is not to be ignored. The idea of humanely treating prisoners, the Geneva convention, is necessary to separate us from the those we stand against. Which I am sure is no easy task.

A Globe Pequot ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.