POWs tell their tales
by TROY MOON
Here's a lesson for all military aviators flying in combat zones, courtesy of a Vietnam-era prisoner-of-war: Don't wear frilly underwear with Valentine hearts on them when you're getting ready for a mission.
"Wear clothes you don't feel bad getting paraded around in."
That's the advice from retired Navy Capt. Theodore Triebel, 66, who spent eight months as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. Triebel and three other POWs spoke to nearly 1,000 people Thursday at the 22nd annual Naval Aviation Museum Foundation Symposium, which ends today.
Triebel cracked up the crowd with his tale of being paraded around North Vietnamese villages in his Valentine "gag" underwear because all of his normal skivvies were dirty.
Such humor, Triebel and the other panelists said, was essential for survival in the North Vietnamese prison camps.
"I had been the class clown all my life," said retired Navy Capt. John C. Ensch, 70, whose left arm and hand were severely injured after he ejected from his plane over North Vietnam in August 1972. "When I came into the big cell (at the infamous 'Hanoi Hilton'), I was the joke-teller, a cutup. Humor and optimism helped me a lot."
Ensch, who was released the following March, recalled his medical treatment while in captivity.
"They strapped me down to a table with leather straps across my ankles, thighs and chest," Ensch said. "Three or four guys held me down. They took a scalpel to what was left of my thumb. That was my introduction to the Vietnamese HMO system."
The former POWs survived on humor, camaraderie, an intact chain of command, sense of duty and commitment to country, they all said.
And although they can joke about some of their ordeals now, they are fully aware of the seriousness of their wartime captivity.
Retired Navy Capt. J. Michael McGrath, 68, was shot down in June 1967 and spent six years as a prisoner.
After being tortured and interrogated for days, McGrath gave his captors false information.
But his sense of duty was so great, even that bothered him.
"All I did was tell them a couple of lies," he said. "But I still had given information, and it bothered me for a long time. You feel like you've betrayed your country."
Not so, said those in attendance, including about 20 former POWs in the audience, and the wide-eyed young military officers who swarmed to meet the POWs after the panel discussion.
"It definitely motivates you and makes you proud to be in the Navy," said Navy Ensign Ryan Shakely, 23, a flight student at Pensacola Naval Air Station. "The amazing thing is how humble they are and how they're able to joke about it. It's not a joke at all, but the fact that they can look at the lighter side says so much about their character."
ŠPensacola News Journal