VIETNAM WAR U.S. PRISONERS OF WAR RETURN WITH HONOR 53584
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- Опубліковано 2 кві 2017
- This extraordinary, declassified U.S. Air Force documentary “Return With Honor” pays tribute to those servicemen who became prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. The film focuses on first hand accounts by POWs who describe their methods of resistance, maintaining mental toughness, and most incredibly the innovative communication techniques they developed and used while held captive. The circa 1973 picture opens with General John P. Flynn (mark 00:20), who spent five years as a POW in North Vietnam, as he explains how returnees want to share their stories. Flynn informs the viewer (starting at mark 01:20) how the North Vietnamese tried to obtain military information from the captives, to exploit them politically, and to maintain a punishing environment that included torture and mistreatment. To combat the tactics, Flynn notes at mark 02:05 that prisoners relied on their own integrity, the military code of conduct, and covert communication - which he describes as the prisoner’s lifeblood. With that introduction, the film begins in earnest at mark 03:05 with scenes of airmen returning to the United States after having been held captive in Hanoi, some for more than 8 years. Dramatized scenes continue of prisoners in their cells as the narrator recounts the common thoughts of the POWs after they’re captured. A prisoner is questioned about his mission at mark 05:15 and threatened via intimidation. The film’s narrator, Col. Raymond Merritt (who also was a POW) explains at mark 07:45 how prisoners longed for human contact and the inability to communicate with others was an effective torture tool. Prisoners used their ingenuity, Merritt explained, to create a covert communication network to save their sanity. The network was used in such camps as How Lo Prison (aka Hanoi Hilton), shown at mark 13:18. Dramatized re-enactments starting at mark 14:30 show how the communication worked as POWs with the “tap code” demonstrated starting at mark 16:16. In addition to tapping on walls, prisoners could also tap out messages using tools while in a work detail (mark 21:53) or in rare instances when they were given musical instruments. Even casting shadows could be used as a communication tool (mark 26:28), as well as in a way a lump of dirt was tossed about or calisthenics were performed. The film continues by discussing variations of the tap code, and how prisoners used anything from cigarette ashes to dirt to write with. Other silent covert communication included hand signals, which Merritt discusses starting at mark 38:06.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
Wow, amazing Film! Thank you
Excellent!! Thank you!!
The old shave and a haircut routine. Pure genius.
Brilliant, and audacious. Proof that "capture" doesn't mean that you've quit fighting.
it is quite impressive....for sure...
there ARE still POW'S in other countries. Some may have passed on due to illness, lack of food medical care and lost faith. Pray for their souls.
so what happened to the three that returned in Sept of 1972?
Hi. It's me. Cincinnati, Ohio 45237.
viva la difference....between VN and Korea.....apparently the Americans learned their lessons, from Korea...
it is not difficult to imagine that both sides were brutal....
Do your research. You have no idea how brutal the North Vietnamese were to America prisoners. It went on daily, unabated, for years. These men are true heroes for what they endured.
TIMELINE OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM
1955 President Eisenhower sends first military advisors to South Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese Army.
1956 At French exit the US Military Assistance Advisor Group (MAAG) assumes full responsibility for training South Vietnamese forces.
1959 First two Americans are killed during a Viet Minh guerillas strike at Bien Hoa.
1961 President Kennedy sends 100 Special Forces troops to South Vietnam.
1961 A U.S. aircraft carrier arrives in Saigon and Vice President Johnson visits Saigon.
1962 U.S. Air Force begins using Agent Orange to defoliate trails used by Viet Cong forces.
1963 U.S. military advisors and Special Forces increase to 21,000.
1964 U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy are reported attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. U.S. Congress passes “Gulf of Tonkin” resolution authorizing President Johnson to wage all-out war against North Vietnam.
1965 Retaliatory air-strikes begin against North Vietnam. Operation “Rolling Thunder” lasts three years. First U.S combat forces (2 Marine battalions) arrive in Danang, South Vietnam. Rapid escalation of force level ensues, which tops 200,000 by end of the year. U.S. Congress provides $2.4 billion for war effort with little dissent.
1966 U.S. B-52s bomb North Vietnam for the first time. Bombing of Haiphong and Hanoi begins.
1967 Major ground operations continue, including Operation Cedar Falls. Troop level reaches 486,000.
1968 Communist forces conduct Tet Offensive with major attacks in almost all of South Vietnam’s 44 provinces. Battle of Hue lasts 26 days. Offensive is huge military defeat for the Communists but a political and psychological victory. Johnson scales back bombing of the North and commits the U.S. to a non-military solution to the war. U.S. troop level reaches 537,000.
1969 Secret bombing of Communist supply routes and base camps inside Cambodia begins. “Vietnamization” program initiated, shifting the burden of the war to the South Vietnamese Army and away for the U.S. First U.S. combat forces withdrawn.
1970 President Nixon orders more troops withdrawn reducing total to 280,000 by the end of the year. Invasion of Communist sanctuaries inside Cambodia by U.S. and South Vietnam forces.
1971 Continued troops withdrawn as combat operations wind down. Air strikes continue with heaviest attacks on North Vietnam since 1968.
1972 A seventh withdrawal of forces reduces troop level to 69,000 by mid-year. North Vietnamese launch major offensive across the DMZ into the South. In retaliation President Nixon orders the renewed bombing of the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. Bombing above the 20th parallel continues. U.S. mines the North Vietnam harbors.
1973 By March all U.S. combat forces have been withdrawn from Vietnam and all U.S. prisoners released.
1974 Just prior to Saigon’s capture by North Vietnamese forces, the last remaining U.S. personnel are evacuated from Vietnam.
I always and only believe in my own lies which I have fabricated for others. They become my truth and I love it! I call it propaganda ...