Two Real Superheroes - Part 1

A real superhero doesn’t fly or spin webs while swinging through the city.  A true superhero is the hero of men who themselves are heroes.  If you read the accounts of the US military men who were imprisoned in North Vietnam during the war, you will find that, to a man, they pick two specific men as their heroes during the dreadful years they spent there. 

 

The first was an Air Force 1^st Lieutenant named Lance Sijan.  Most of the men held in North Vietnam never met him, but he became a legend within the prisons and the shining example they all wanted to follow.  After ejecting from his F-4, Lt. Sijan was critically wounded, with a fractured skull and compound fracture of his left leg.  While a huge rescue effort was unleashed in the first 24 hours he was on the ground, his radio died and the rescue was called off.  He crawled through the jungle and evaded capture for 46 days while in his injured and weakened condition.  Found by the North Vietnamese while unconscious, he was taken into captivity on Christmas Day 1967.  Soon after he was captured, even in his terrible condition, he overpowered one of his guards (some accounts actually say he killed his guard) and escaped for several hours.  His resistance under torture became legendary.  He kept telling his captors that he could tell them nothing because the Code of Conduct didn’t allow it.  He resisted to the utmost of his ability.  Because he was in such bad shape he was kept with two other prisoners who were charged with caring for him.  In his delirium of fever he scratched at the floor of his cell trying to dig through – such was his desire to escape.  He succumbed to disease, abuse and malnutrition on Jan 22, 1968.  His uncompromising resistance and adherence to the Code of Conduct were models for everyone else in that prison to follow.  He became the hero they all wanted to imitate. 

 

Posthumously he was promoted to Captain and awarded the Medal of Honor.  His citation reads as follows:

 

While on a flight over North Vietnam, Captain Sijan ejected from his disabled aircraft and successfully evaded capture for more than six weeks. During this time, he was seriously injured and suffered from shock and extreme weight loss due to lack of food. After being captured by North Vietnamese soldiers, Captain Sijan was taken to a holding point for subsequent transfer to a prisoner of war camp. In his emaciated and crippled condition, he overpowered one of his guards and crawled into the jungle, only to be recaptured after several hours. He was then transferred to another prison camp where he was kept in solitary confinement and interrogated at length. During interrogation, he was severely tortured; however, he did not divulge any information to his captors. Captain Sijan lapsed into delirium and was placed in the care of another prisoner. During his intermittent periods of consciousness until his death, he never complained of his physical condition and, on several occasions, spoke of future escape attempts. Captain Sijan's extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Armed Forces.

 

Next – a most unlikely superhero in the “Hanoi Hilton.” 

 

“Fly high & roar loudly”

 

dirk