All Prisoners Of War were held in a variety of prisons in and around the Hanoi area. Americans trying to keep a sense of home and the life they left behind gave each of these prisons a nickname. The Zoo, Alcatraz, Briarpatch, and Camp Hope were the most widely used by the POW's but the most notorious of them all was Hoa Lo Prison better known as the Hanoi Hilton.
The Hanoi Hilton was given it's name by Bob Schumaker the second POW to be incarcerated in this fortress. Built by the French in 1886 this massive fortress with 20 foot high walls was modernized to accommodate captured soldiers and an additional five feet of electrified barded wire was added. Boasting acreage that covered an entire city block in Hanoi it housed inmates, cell blocks, and administration buildings. The exact number of prisoners held was unknown but estimates are upwards of 700. As with the prison names the POW's gave each cell block their own identity. Camp Unity, Heartbreak Hotel, and Little Vegas were amongst their favorites with New Guy Village housing the new arrivals.
Rodent and insect infested conditions were the norm along with poor sanitation and non existent medical treatment. Isolation and torture were commonplace as 40 to 60 men were crowded into cell blocks. Testimonials from returnees confirm the food was unedible with deplorable living conditions of isolation, torture, starvation, and constant harassment. Yet stories of heroism and sutvival rose from the ashes of these horrific conditions as men took lead roles to help their fellow soldiers. Senator John McCain, Jeremiah Denton, and James Stockdale led their fellow prisoners in church services, language classes, and even reanactments of movies to escape the horror.
As bombing campaigns increased over Hanoi more prisoners were rounded up throughout the country and moved into an already crowded situation. As the U.S. demanded better conditions a letter writing campaign began to appear around the world. After the death of Ho Chi Minh in 1969 along with failed propaganda programs Hanoi instituted somewhat better conditions. One such failed program was the POW interview of Jeremiah A. Denton.
In April 1966 Denton was interviewed on television as a propaganda stunt by Hanoi. During the interview as Denton talked he began blinking the word torture in morse code. His captors had no idea but America new something was amiss by his odd behavior of blinking in sequence. A U.S. Commander and pilot Denton was among the first and most senior ranking POW's to be shot down. His aircraft went down on July 18, 1965 and he spent seven and a half years in captivity.
Hoa Lo Prison better known as the Hanoi Hilton was a massive complex.
Century old walls and rusted hardware adorn this
midevil corridor leading to the guillotine, an added
horror feature.
Senator John McCain walks the halls as he relives
a horrific period in his life.
A view from the inside looking out that
Senator McCain knows all to well.
On January 27, 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed ending direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and among the many stipulations of the Accords was the release of all Prisoners Of War. On February 10,1973 the first of the prisoners,134 in total, were released and among these were three from the greater New York area specifically Long Island. Included in those three was one soldier from my hometown of Bay shore.
Long Island Press article on display in THE ART OF WAR exhibition. February 11, 1973
Air Force Capt. David E Baker, Huntington NY
Army Private Ferdinand A. Rodriguez, Brooklyn NY
Air Force Sgt. Arthur Cormier, Bay Shore NY
Archive display in THE ART OF WAR exhibition.
parachuting behind enemy lines in a rescue attempt
in 1964. Cormier was held over 6 years.
Archive THE ART OF WAR exhibition.
Bay Shore's "Welcome Home" ceremony sponsored by Bay Shore's Millenium Committee celebrated the 25 year anniversary of the Fall Of Saigon. As the representative Vietnam Veteran I researched Bay Shores military history and contributions made during the Vietnam Era. In stacks of old newspapers I found the above articles. When I came across the Arthur Cormier article I was beside myself.
The complete list of names and adresses of the 134
returnees dated February 11, 1973.
Archive THE ART OF WAR exhibition
Cormier was not only a Bay Shore resident but he lived on my street in the corner house, the one I passed thousands of times. It took me a considerable amount of time to process this new found information and what to do with it. I thought of the trauma years I spent lost in hopelessness and the times I drove until I ran out of gas as I stared at the front of the house. Yet in that house a drama of a different kind was playing out, different yet the same. Could this be possible? Could lightening strike twice in one spot?
I checked the address again as I cruised up and down the block passing the house several times. I envisioned a schrine not unlike the Vietnam Memorial and the times I approached it but turned away shaking. That was then and this is now, I had learned there was a place for such feelings and I quickly searched for that place. My feelings were a companion now, with me but not with me.
I knocked on the door trying to hold myself together and introduced myself and my situation to a housewife in her thirties. She was sympathetic to my story and my sense of historical endeavors but wanted to know what I wanted. Now came an even harder explanation as I told her I wanted to sit quietly in her living room for a few minutes. Seeing tears in my eyes and sensing my harmlessness she agreed.
The National Cathedral, the Grand Canyon, the Great Kiva were all with me as I sat in quiet reverence. To her it was her living room but to me it was a sacred alter to sit and reflect. Arthur Cormier's family lived here and for six plus years tormented over his fate. Not knowing I think would have been the most obvious emotion as they tried to go about their daily lives. When I stand before a great work of art I try to imagine the environment, the emotion, and the feelings surrounding the piece and use those feelings to understand. What drama played out in this very room? How did they get through every day? What hopes and dreams were realized when the names were released? The walls were speaking to me if only in my own head as I worked through my emotions. Coming out of my trance like state I left humbled as we all do when encountering any spiritual experience.
The outer walls have chards of glass imbedded in the cement topped with barbed wire.
The inner walls, now decorated with planters are acompanies by music.
My selfie entering the gates of this ancient French Fort.
It's called "Death Row" and it's lined with single person cells.
Looking into a cell with a mock prisoner which at one time held Americans.
The guillotine once used to behead French prisoners was once used to scare Americans into a state of cooperation so they would confess.
Prison bars retain the precious moments of life lost by POW's during the war.
I walked in silence and reverence trying to absorb the emotions these walls contained. At first I was in awe of this war facility but soon my emotions became somewhat unenexpectantly curious. The basic overall theme of the prison was French Colonialism focussing on breaking the bonds of Imperialsm. The first clue was a post WWII gas can on display used to douse turn of the century prisoners with gasoline and threaten to light it unless they confess. It was out of place and time according to its era.
This started to tweak my curiosity and so I continued my search for more misleading clues in this vast complex of oddities. The Death row and holding blocks held mock prisoners from French Colinial times and was more of a colonial history and not a war memorabilia exhibit. It reminded me of The Exchange in Old Charkeston where the slaves were traded. I was disappointed to be misled by the exhibit.
Towards the end of the prison was a small room dedicated to The Vietnam War with Senator McCains flight suit on display. A continually running video narrated in Vietnamese and captioned in English showed American POW's eating large French Bread sandwiches and trays full of fruit. The prisoners were given full religious services and medical attention routinely with a movie night once a week. The term Political Prisoners was used to describe this comfy country club atmosphere. It appeared that these men were lucky to be captured and treated so well instead of the harsh military life of war. They were only kept long enough for them to realize the error of their ways and confessed.
Guests were discussing the compassion of the army towards these men and I became inwardly ill. I will be the first to admit we treaty these people so horribly and I will be the first to confess my involvement but I will tell the truth. I thought of Washington DC and the spin of our government puts on such issues and I try to relate to a world run by power and misguidance. Perhaps I'm special in my views or perhaps I just nieve but people have to learn to think for themselves and try to make informed decisions. Governments spin explanations of most wars from a pompous and greedy place covering it with a blanket of compassion and concern. It's a shame that people need to sift through the rhetoric to try to understand. So here I am fifty years later and I still don't understand.
Respectfully I love people as opposed to governments and restfully I will take people for what they are worth. The prisoners on both sides have my undying respect and loyalty as men and women and I will continue to believe in them and believe we are moving in the right direction because we don't have a choice, we must believe.
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