On Nov. 29, 1970, 43 U.S. servicemen gathered in the Hoa Lo prison compound, often called the “Hanoi Hilton,” and performed an act of retaliation— a church service. Posted on 12/16/2013 6:07:06 AM PST by Zakeet
On Nov. 29, 1970, 43 U.S. servicemen gathered in the Hoa Lo prison compound, often called the “Hanoi Hilton,” and performed an act of retaliation— a church service.
Nine days earlier, after a failed attempt by U.S. Special Forces to liberate the prisoners, the North Vietnamese captors had removed them from their cells and incarcerated them in a single holding area. For several men, it was the first face-to-face encounter with friends they had made through tap-code communication.
The first Sunday after they were removed from their cells, they attempted to hold a church service but were threatened with severe punishment. Seeing the men’s disappointment, then-Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. “Ned” Shuman — a naval aviator who would spend five years as a POW and who died Dec. 3 at age 82 — stepped forward. “I want to know — person by person— if you are really committed to holding church,” he said, asking each of the other 42 men for support until he achieved a unanimous commitment.
The following Sunday, they tried again. This time, Cmdr. Shuman, the highest-ranking officer in the group, began to lead the soldiers in the Lord’s Prayer. The guards quickly grabbed him and took him away to be tortured.
The remaining officers continued reciting the prayer in unison, drowning out the shouts of the North Vietnamese guards who were beating them with gun butts.
“Forty-two men in prison pajamas followed Ned’s lead,” recalled retired Col. Leo Thorsness in his memoir “Surviving Hell: A POW’s Journey.” “I know I will never see a better example of pure raw leadership.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Meanwhile, at roughly the same time, a short distance away ...
RIP Capt. Shuman ... thank you for your service.
I can’t say enough about that traitor.
With her pal John Kerreeeeeee who has returned to his “battlefield” in the Mekong Delta (you can’t make this up) to reminisce about his self inflicted gunshot wound and Purple Heart he threw away in “protest” before pumping and pimping any rich biotch he could in Europe and US. One of teddy’s sandwich buddies. And complete utter lying a@@. We’re safe with him as ... Sec. State oh yeah.
Rest in peace, Commander Shuman. Thank you for your service and bravery.
I hope you haven’t seen this book in stores before reading this:
It’ll make you see red and bring very bad toothaches.
Don’t kid yourself. She was there with them, along with her hosts, the north Vietnamese officials. The POWs passed their social security numbers to her by one representative
They hoped she would let their families know they were alive
She gave it to the NVN like a rat
The NVN tortured them for this some were killed
That she is not declared and treated as a traitor is bad for our self esteem as a country and how we view VN war. My opinion
Anyway, God rest this wonderful man’s soul. Brave soldier
The fondavermin.
One can tell from this photo and others what a POS the NVA thought she was, regardless her political expediency for them at the time.
Today even Hanoi Hannah wonders why she never came back, while American veterans sojourn all over the place; old ho’s north, central and south, while he rots in his Soviet built monstrosity-tomb.
That story though intriguing has been DEBUNKED for years. It isn’t true!
Thanks for the post. RIP
Thanks for the ping. Those men were real Christians. May they all rest in peace, now or later.
Nice try
Who’re you going to believe? a group of 6 to 7 year NVN torture prison camp survivors or whoever debunked this story Fonda herself never denied?
You sit with the men who were there, along with their wives and families, and listen to them tell that story as they, themselves experienced it, and you’ll realize you’re as wrong as Chris Matthews is about Obama, and for the same propagandize s by the media reasons
Pshaw! And you call yourself a combat veteran.
RIP.
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