News-Info-Alerts

Re: Playing the Hand Life Deals

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: April 21, 2003

"the Daily Record newsroom
Ex-Vietnam is voice of experience

By Matt Manochio, Daily Record

Col. Edward Hubbard spent 61/2 years of his life either being beaten mercilessly by his North Vietnamese captors or sitting in his cell for hours with nothing but his thoughts to keep him alive and focused.

Hubbard, 64, who will speak at Sussex County Community College on Thursday from 7 to 8:15 p.m., says he'll tell those who attend that life is full of good and bad days -- but it's up to them to determine what kind of day it will be.

"We all have a great contribution to make, and not all of us are trying very hard," Hubbard said during a recent phone interview from his Florida home.

Hubbard, a former Air Force navigator, was 28 years old when his plane was shot down over North Vietnam. He learned to deal with the hardship of never knowing if he'd be alive the next morning, and became determined to leave the Hanoi Hilton in better shape than when he arrived.

"We took a stand that said, 'We will, despite the circumstances, we will return from here physically and mentally better than when we arrived,' and almost to a man, we did that," Hubbard said.

"We wanted to do more than survive, We wanted to improve our lives."

Hubbard, who didn't speak a word of Spanish before his capture in 1966, was imprisoned next to a soldier who spoke Spanish. Prisoners were forbidden to speak to one another, so they devised a system of communications through taps on the walls.

Hubbard and the neighboring POW tapped to each other for months, and eventually he amassed a 5,000-word Spanish vocabulary, which he now uses when he and his wife, Jennifer, go on vacation in Spanish-speaking countries.

Instead of just moping in his cell, Hubbard took advantage of his situation when it was possible. He said that is the type of attitude that he hopes people can use in their own lives.

Hubbard lived in solitary confinement during his first 90 days in captivity. His living situation altered as time went on. He lived in solitary for a good deal of time, but also shared a cell with 59 other prisoners during part of his captivity.

He spent 2,420 days in captivity before his release under the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. He continued with his career in the Air Force for 17 years after his release.

"I'm going to tell them about the things that we learned in captivity," Hubbard said of his motivational speeches to youngsters, which he delivers approximately 200 times a year.

"You're dealt a hand in life every day. Play it to the best of your ability. … You've got to go out and fix these things yourself."

Hubbard, who said he supported Operation Iraqi Freedom, said the eight prisoners of war released and rescued over the last few weeks likely learned some of the lessons he learned in Vietnam.

" I think they probably learned the same lessons we did, but not to the same extent that we did," Hubbard said. "It's hard to pick up six years worth of knowledge in 23 days. … I would guess they all will figure they are better people than when they went in."


Col. Edward Hubbard will speak at Sussex County Community College, One College Hill, from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Thursday. For more information, call Tom Feely at (973) 726-4253.

Matt Manochio can be reached at mmanochi@gannett.com or (973) 428-6630.

Copyright 2003 Daily Record."