At the same time, the Vietnamese army also claimed that these captured American pilots were "air robbers" and "informers" who committed heinous crimes against the Vietnamese people and should not be protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Although the status of American prisoners of war is not recognized by the Vietnamese army, how will they be treated?
Under normal circumstances, after the US military is captured by the Vietnamese army, it must go through at least five links:
Step one: disarm and beat up to vent your anger.
Aviator Alvarez is the first American prisoner captured by the Vietnamese army. He was disarmed from danger (also meaning to prevent the other party from committing suicide) and was stripped naked and beaten "peach blossom all over his face".
Dieter, the only American pilot who escaped from the "Shanxi prison camp"? Dengler
American pilot knudsen's F-4 fighter plane was shot down by Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns, and he killed two Vietnamese soldiers while resisting arrest. Therefore, after being caught by the Vietnamese army, they disarmed first to remove the danger, and then they were beaten violently, and their noses were broken, their teeth were knocked out, and their eyes became "panda eyes." ...
Link 2: Regular trial
After the battle, most American prisoners of war will become honest and the trial of the Vietnamese army will begin.
Under normal circumstances, interrogators will sit in a straight-backed chair, with a table in front of the chair, a covered tape recorder on the table, a round stool with no backrest about two meters in front of the table, a light bulb with a conical lampshade hanging above the round stool, and the round stool under the light bulb is for American prisoners.
During the trial, the Vietnamese army will ask the US military to sign a document. American prisoners of war will be rewarded with cigarettes and bananas if they answer questions and cooperate with signatures.
However, for those American prisoners of war who are not very cooperative, they are greeted by "rope punishment."
Link 3: rope torture
According to the captured US Air Force Colonel Conrad Trauman, "A rope is tied to your throat and then slowly shrinks and tightens. The feeling of pain, dryness and breathlessness is like the devil coming to you step by step. This is terrible, too painful ... "
In fact, this is only the first step of rope punishment. Even if you can survive, you have to face the second step. Rope punishment will also be used on the arms, legs and ankles of American prisoners. The feeling of tearing from body to soul is beyond the ordinary people's endurance. Because the process is too complicated, I won't explain it in detail.
Example 1: According to the memory of American prisoners of war who returned to China, when knudsen was tortured by rope for the first time, he repeatedly screamed and cried, and was forced to cooperate with the interrogators and wrote a "confession". Example 2:1967101On October 26th, American Major General John McCain, who was captured by the Vietnamese army, was ill for a long time because of rope punishment. Until the 2008 US presidential election, he could not raise his arm over his shoulder when representing the Republican Party and Obama. Link 4: "redemption" according to the body
It is said that after the Vietnamese army mastered the identity of these American prisoners, they all evaluated their value. Once the war is over, it would be nice to ask the United States for a high ransom.
"Lu Hua Prison", also known as "Hilton Hanoi", was shot by German photographer Thomas Bilhard.
If the United States is unwilling to give it, it is also convenient to ask the families of rich prisoners.
Therefore, even if the U.S. military kills Vietnamese civilians and soldiers when resisting arrest, it will not kill them at most after a meal to vent its anger.
Link 5: Health check-up
Since we don't want these American prisoners to die, we will naturally care about their physical condition.
For example, after McCain was captured, Vietnamese doctors gave him a physical examination.
After the above five links, the imprisoned American prisoners will have a long life as prisoners.
According to an article by Air Force reporter Peter Greer published in the Christian Science Monitor, about 2,000 pilots and crew members of the US military were killed and another 500 were imprisoned in the Vietnam War.
However, according to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, from 196 1 to 1973, another 725 U.S. Army officers and men were captured while fighting against North Vietnam.
So, what kind of prisoner life will these American prisoners usher in?
living environment
According to the captured US Navy pilot Dalet Dangley, when he was put into a prison camp near Pagon, he saw one prisoner of war with intestines in his hand, and another prisoner of war lost his teeth because of infection.
Later, some prisoners of war infected with bacteria could not bear the pain, and often begged other prisoners of war to help them end their lives with stones or rusty nails.
The prison where American prisoner of war Cook is held.
According to John McCain, an American prisoner who returned to China, the conditions in the Hilton prison camp in Hanoi where he was held were bad. He had no bed and had to sleep on the hard and humid ground, and all kinds of mosquitoes bit him. So many prisoners have rheumatoid arthritis. When it rains, the pain is unbearable. Some prisoners of war were infected by mosquito bites and stayed in foreign countries forever.
1966, American captured navy captain Robert shoemaker was detained in "Lu Hua prison" in the center of ha noi. When he was taking a bath, he accidentally found a logo with "Hilton" printed on the bottom of a bucket. Therefore, this prison established during the French colonial rule was later nicknamed "Hilton Hanoi" by prisoners of war.
daily life
According to the diary of captured US Air Force Lieutenant Ellis in Lu Hua prison, the first meal of prisoners of war was "standard" fish head and rice. Usually, pumpkin soup and cabbage soup are the same content in the recipe all year round. The only protein is a piece of tofu the size of a golf ball every week.
Snakes and mice caught occasionally are the favorite delicacies of prisoners of war.
Usually, flip-flops are also standard shoes in prison camps, even barefoot.
strict supervision
1965 1 1 year1October, in order to better manage American prisoners, the Vietnamese army specially compiled a regulation on the management of prison camps, and dispersed prisoners of war in North Vietnam 15 prison camps.
American prisoners of war were forced to parade in the streets.
Although, the management regulations prohibit prisoners of war from communicating with each other and passing messages. However, there are still prisoners of war who have repeatedly violated the ban and passed messages to each other, even in prison camps. For example, the pilot Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr was imprisoned for eight years, but in a TV interview organized by the Vietnamese army, he disguised the strong light of the lights and sent out "Morse Code" by blinking. When the program was broadcast in the United States, it was translated by office of naval intelligence as: tortured in prison.
Therefore, in order to better manage the prison camp, prisoners of war who abide by the regulations will get better treatment, while prisoners of war who refuse to obey the managers will be punished.
Punishment 1: being beaten and scolded. It is a common practice for prisoners to live in the dark, but if they refuse to obey the managers, they will be abused and beaten by an upgraded version. Punishment 2: Death threats. Prisoners of war who stab their heads are often pointed at by managers and threatened to kill them. For example, Captain Cook, a military adviser to a division of the Marine Corps, was threatened with death, but he left a famous saying: "You have no right to kill me, only God can decide when I will die!" Punishment 3: Once a prisoner of war is considered to be out of line, he will be shackled and held in solitary confinement. For example, Jeremy "Jerry" Denton, a senior officer of the U.S. Navy held in "Lu Hua Prison", was shackled and imprisoned in solitary confinement for four years for encouraging prisoners of war to resist. Punishment 4: There is also the "rope punishment" mentioned above. Punishment 5: March in public. The "thorn-headed" prisoners of war who are inconvenient to move will be loaded with ox carts, and the "thorn-headed" prisoners of war who are convenient to walk will be tied up by the Vietnamese army, pointed at by guns, and paraded like monkeys. During this period, the metropolis was personally insulted by the Vietnamese who took the lead in throwing vegetables and leaves. This is the most unbearable thing for proud American soldiers. But for the Vietnamese army, it can boost morale and inspire people. Punishment 6: For fugitives, the final result after being caught is unspeakable cruel torture, and even the legs and feet may be broken. However, one person managed to escape, that is, American pilot Dieter Dengler, and his deeds were also made into a movie "See the Light". Later, after learning about the terrible situation of these prisoners of war, the United States also specially engaged in an "Ivory Coast" prisoner rescue operation. As a result, I don't know whether the information leaked by the US military is wrong or the information rescued by the United States is wrong. Although the rescue operation was carried out perfectly, it was a pity that it was cheated and failed.
The life of prisoners of war began to improve. By the end of 1969, there were signs of peace talks between the United States and Vietnam, and the life of American prisoners of war began to improve greatly. Even punishment is hard to see.
Mccain (right), who staged an opponent drama with Obama in 2008, took a photo with his squadron at 1965.
For example, in June of 1972, Thomas Ondong, an American pilot, was shot down by the Vietnamese army while performing a search and rescue mission and was put in Lu Hua prison. He hung an acoustic device in his room, constantly playing the anti-war speeches of American anti-war activist and Hollywood actress jane fonda and the "confessions" of other prisoners of war. However, Thomas was very angry with this harassment and broke the wire of the speaker. As a result, surprisingly, he was not punished at all.
By 1973, the living American prisoners returned to their hometowns one after another. They were greeted by President Nixon's dinner for returning American prisoners of war, which he said was one of the best dinners of his life.