News-Info-Alerts

Re: 30 Years of Freedom

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: February 12, 2003

"Congressman marks 30 years of freedom from captivity in Vietnam

By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- As a new generation of soldiers prepares for a possible war with Iraq, Texas Democratic Rep. Sam Johnson is marking the day his seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam ended 30 years ago.

   Johnson's freedom came Feb. 12, 1973, a lifetime from the April day in 1966 that shots from anti-aircraft guns forced him to bail from the F-4 Phantom jet he was piloting in North Vietnam.

   Despite years of torture, two years of solitary confinement, the loss of friends and physical scars such as an "S" shaped back and contorted hand, Johnson does not hesitate in supporting sending young American men and women to war with Iraq.

   "That's a call to duty. When you are given a job to do, you just do it ... It's for freedom not just for this country but all over the world. Iraq is something we have to deal with and quickly," Johnson, R-Plano, said Tuesday.

   Johnson was one of the so-called "Alcatraz 11," American prisoners of war who were singled out for the worst of treatment because of their resistance and after the name they came up with for Hoa La prison where they were held.


   Only 10 came home. Eight are alive today.

   "We knew we were going to be released because they let us out together for the first time. And they never had us together at all, the whole group. That happened in January and it wasn't until February that we got out," Johnson said.

   In his book, "Captive Warriors," Johnson describes the feeling as he headed for the American C-141 that came for him and the other POWs.

   "The sheer joy of being alive and in the presence of Americans finally overcame me. Great, huge sobs I had tried to hold back broke loose," Johnson wrote in the book.

   He was among 135 or so Americans freed from Hanoi's Hoa Lo prison, dubbed Alcatraz because it was in the middle of Hanoi headquarters. He was one of hundreds more POWs during the war.

   It was that day that Johnson saw the other pilot in his plane, Larry Chesley, for the first time since they were shot down.

   Chesley said there weren't words to describe the feelings he had when the plane landed at Clark Air Force Base and they read off his name.

   "I felt like I could walk off into space. It was so great, Chesley said.

   Chesley is with other POWs in Hawaii this week to mark the 30th anniversary of their release. A repatriation ceremony is being held Friday at Hickam Air Force Base for remains of soldiers killed during the war. U.S. officials discovered the remains in Laos. Johnson is unable to attend.

   Johnson is willing to give only a few details about the torture he endured. He broke his arm when he ejected from his plane. He said captors broke it again later by stretching his arm behind his back.

   There were the battles to keep his sanity while occupying his mind with thoughts away from the prison. There were years in solitary confinement. There were beatings and being shackled and the many years away from his wife, Shirley, and three children.

   The worst, he said, was the starvation. He recalls eating what the prisoners dubbed "sewer greens," weeds pulled from the river and boiled, pumpkin, monkey bananas when the captors were generous, bowls of sugar and slivers of pork fat "with the hair still on it." Often it was nothing at all.

   As the war moves further into history, its brutality is slipping from the American consciousness, Johnson said. Anniversaries such as the one he'll mark Wednesday is a reminder of how quickly freedom can slip from one's grasp, he said.

   "All of us would go out there again and fight for it if we needed to," Johnson said, "because it's important to protect what we have."

   On the Net: http://www.samjohnson.house.gov/

 Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. "