ed him in the back of the truck. The truck then drove a few blocks to a stone building that took up two city blocks in the center of downtown Hanoi. John passed through an enormous iron gate, above which was painted "Maison Centrale." He was shot down a short distance from the French-built prison, Hao Lo, which the POWs nicknamed "the Hanoi Hilton." "As the massive steel doors loudly clanked shut behind me, I felt a deeper dread than I have ever felt since" Senator John McCain later wrote (McCain 190). The landing and apprehension was the easiest part for John, the worst was yet to come.
             John, along with hundreds of other prisoners were in for the most torturous of times in their lives. After being taken to the infamous Hanoi Hilton, POWs were tortured, beaten, starved, killed, denied medical treatment, placed into solitary confinement, and sometimes driven to insanity. The treatment of the POWs in the Hanoi Hilton affected the world historically, sociologically, economically, and culturally.
             The history of the city of Hanoi, and the mark on history that the Hilton left is very evident. The prison named "Hoa Lo" by the local Vietnamese, got its name from a portable earthen stove. In the 19th century, the Vietnamese that lived on the ground where the prison was built on manufactured earthen-ware hibachis, called "hoa lo". The streets got their names by the primary industry or commerce conducted in the area. In this case, it became known as "Pho Hoa Lo", or "hibachi street". When the French colonized the area in the early 1900's, they renamed the street "rue de la Prison" and built a prison (The Hanoi Hilton 1).
             The French completed the construction on the prison in 1901. It was built to hold Vietnamese criminals and occupied two city blocks. The prison came complete with small leg irons built especially for the Vietnamese (which...