By Paul Alexander, Stars and Stripes
HANOI, Vietnam — North Vietnam wasn’t on many Americans’ radar until President Lyndon B. Johnson went on radio 50 years ago to tell them about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, a naval clash off the coast of the Southeast Asian nation that escalated U.S. involvement there.
Retired Col. Lee Ellis looks at a map of the ”Hanoi Hilton” as it stood when he spent parts of his five years as a prisoner of war there after being shot down over North Vietnam. Most of the prison has been torn down, and the rest has been converted into a museum with scant mention of the American prisoners. (PAUL ALEXANDER/STARS AND STRIPES)
The next day, Aug. 5, 1964, American bombers were pounding targets in the communist country. Antiaircraft fire hit a Navy Skyhawk piloted by Everett Alvarez Jr. near Hong Gai.
Alvarez ejected and was captured. First held nearby, he was transferred to Hanoi on Aug. 12, becoming the first U.S. prisoner of war to be taken to the Hoa Lo prison.
For seven months, Alvarez was the only POW there. Then other aviators trickled in until the cells were crowded. Using gallows humor to cope with their poor treatment, they came up with a nickname for their harsh accommodations:
The Hanoi Hilton.
Read the full article by Paul Alexander from Stars and Stripes.
