March 24

Defiant: The POWs Who Endured Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison, the Women who Fought for Them and the One Who Never Returned
By Alvin Townley

This is an amazing story of eleven men who survived seven years of torture, much of it in solitary confinement, in Hanoi's Hoa Lo Prison (aka The Hanoi Hilton).  Nearly all eventually acquiesced to forced "confessions" - but only after weeks of torture that left many with broken bones, infections, and mental anguish.  In the first years, they were allowed little communication with each other and none with the outside.  In one coerced, televised confession, one prisoner blinks the word "torture" in Morse code; other coded messages help keep the home front apprised.  But with little information to go on, several wives eventually mount a campaign to make their plights known, and get them back.  Not only were all of their lives changed, but they were to discover that life at home had also changed, and some marriages did not survive.  Note that an 12th POW did not survive and the circumstances surrounding his death remain murky.

These men are the real heroes, who were ready to sacrifice their lives for freedom and country.  Senator John McCain is one of the eleven.   Today he is a rare politician who works in a bipartisan way for the good of the entire country, even as he battles cancer.  Thank you, Senator McCain.