The Hanoi Hilton
3,500 feet above the ground, John had just released his bombs over his target. As he began to pull back on his stick to climb to a safer altitude, a SAM (surface-to-air missile) hit his plane. The "flying telephone pole" struck the right wing of John's A-4 bomber. He radioed, "I'm hit," reached up, and pulled the ejection seat handle. Striking the burning plane as he ejected out, John broke his left arm, his right arm in three places, and his right knee, the force also briefly knocked him unconscious (McCain 189). Villagers watched as John's chute briefly opened before he plunged into the shallow water of the Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi, North Vietnam. He landed in the middle of the lake, in the middle of the capital city, in the middle of the day. He regained conscious when he struck the water. Wearing fifty pounds of gear, he touched the bottom of the shallow lake and kicked off with his good leg. "I didn't feel any pain as I broke the surface, and I didn't understand why I couldn't move my arms to pull the cord on my life vest," John said. Failing to inflate his life vest, John quickly sank back to the bottom, and then broke the surface again. He managed to pull the cord with his teeth, inflating hi
Though the emphasis on the museum is the hardships that the Vietnamese villagers suffered at the hands of the French (Lander). The prisoners welcomed the films as a reliable source of humor and entertainment (McCain 217, 220) The Hanoi Hilton is remembered as the most famous POW camp in the Vietnam War because of the people who stayed there, and because of the horrible and inhumane conditions inside it. asp%3Fask%3Dwhat%2Bis%2Bchinese%2Bwater%2Btorture%253F%26origin%3D0%26site_name%3DJeeves%26metasearch%3Dyes%26ads%3D%26Ask%2521. A plaque that reads, "Though having committed untold crimes on our people, the American pilots suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained. (Ackerman 2)John was freed from the angry mob by a small Vietnamese nurse. They made every attempt at trying to gain new sources of it, and blared whatever pieces of information they could from speakers once in the morning and once at night. This meal was a piece of turkey, rice, soup, lettuce and carrots (Chesley 26). If the ropes became loose, the guards would place a boot to the prisoner's arm, then grab the end of the rope and pull as tightly as possible (Moe 2)The Vietnamese apparently loved their propaganda. If he hadn't been the son of a powerful Admiral, John would have never survived, and never received treatment (McCain 192). It was built to hold Vietnamese criminals and occupied two city blocks. Historic Perspective The history of the city of Hanoi, and the mark on history that the Hilton left is very evident. The Hoa Lo prison remains as a famous icon of the Vietnam War. " The Hilton Hanoi Opera in the name of the hotel now occupying most of the land where the prison once stood.
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Acceptance Essays
