*****I’m not sure the Vietnamese thing is an apt analogy, considering we were at war with North Vietnam and there was no chance of quick release for our airmen whether they cooperated or not. They didn’t have the option to win their freedom through public apology, I don’t think. Although Perhaps they’d have declined to apologize anyway, rather than become a propaganda tool for an enemy in a shooting war.****
While it is true that might not have been able to win their early release had they done as their captors wished, they could certainly have avoided additional torture and possibly even have gotten better treatment.
Much of the torture was a direct result of their not being cooperative.
But they opted to not cooperate as much as possible even though it increased the abuse they had to endure.
This despite seeing tv coverage in America (shown to them by the N. Vietnamese) of the marches against the Vietnam war and the mistreatment of returning soldiers by the leftists in America.
Compare their bravery in the face of being shown Jane Fonda looking through a N. Vietnamese anti-air craft gun.
(Needless to say I NEVER EVER watch ANYTHING with Fonda in it.)
I’m not much of a Fonda fan myself. I wonder if her father was a leftist as well.