The Longest Rescue: The Life and Legacy of Vietnam POW William A. Robinson

3. After Ho

93 3 After Ho on 2 september 1969 ho chi minh, who more than any other individual symbolized the north Vietnamese war of national liberation, died at the age of seventy-five after battling chronic health problems stemming from tuberculosis and malaria. The international community paid tribute to the revolutionary leader by sending more than 22,000 messages of condolence to the government in hanoi. The state funeral was held on 8 september at hanoi’s ba dinh square, where twenty years earlier ho had read the Proclamation of independence of the democratic Republic of Vietnam. The demonstration of national mourning drew more than one hundred thousand people.1 in contrast to the dignified yet emotional observances in the capital city, the reaction to ho’s death among the guards and officials stationed at north Vietnam’s prisoner-of-war camps was quite different. at alcatraz, in the heart of hanoi, navy commander Jeremiah denton remembered that a camp official warned him not to offend the guards, given their highly charged state of mind; they “would be very irritable and unpredictable.” denton heeded the warning and “passed the order to cool it” to his fellow inmates, and wisely so. The guards at alcatraz broke into a storage cell and took drugs and wine, and while messages of condolence from other countries were being read endlessly on the camp radio, they wept and got drunk. even the officers appeared “badly shaken” to denton , who studied their movements. They “wandered through their duties in a daze.”2 denton also noticed, “almost immediately,” that “subtle changes began to take place . . . the camp administration was less harsh, and the [torture] purge petered out”; soon no one “was tortured for propaganda or military information.” although some prisoners continued until the very end of the war to be abused for disciplinary 94 THE LONGEST RESCUE reasons, the pattern of behavior described by denton extended to the other camps in north Vietnam as well. What caused the change? it seems unlikely that ho chi minh had a personal hand in directing the torture of american PoWs or their inclusion in north Vietnam’s propaganda program.3 from 1955 to 1969 ho “had played a largely ceremonial role in the affairs of the country,” according to his acclaimed biographer William J. duiker. in fact, ho delegated his authority to senior party colleagues. They deferred “to his experience in world affairs and in the strategy of revolution,” but otherwise “his influence had declined.”4 coinciding with ho’s death was a more aggressive approach by newly elected President Richard nixon to achieve a successful conclusion to the war. in the spring of 1969 he advocated the “go Public” campaign, which placed more emphasis on the plight of american PoWs, and in early november 1969 he announced his Vietnamization plan, which outlined his program for withdrawing u.s. combat troops from southeast asia. With the possibility of a fast-approaching peace, north Vietnamese leaders had to be aware of international perceptions of its treatment of u.s. prisoners of war. indeed, at a press conference on the exact day of the death of ho chi minh, three recently released prisoners, air force captain Wesley Rumble, navy Lieutenant Robert frishman , and seaman douglas hegdahl, detailed the numerous atrocities committed by the north Vietnamese, and frishman continued to recount the abuse as the group’s unofficial spokesman in followup interviews.5 Whatever the reason, most PoWs marked the end of the torture era of captivity with the passing of ho chi minh. Emergency Appendectomy in the fall of 1969 bill Robinson faced a medical emergency that could have resulted in fatal consequences. at the time he felt “very fortunate” that the one major health crisis of his seven and a half years in captivity occurred after the death of ho chi minh. other than dysentery or an occasional boil, Robinson’s health had been fairly good. after a weight loss of fifty or sixty pounds, his weight had stabilized at around 170 to 180 pounds, down from his capture weight of 240.6 fortunately for Robinson, his two roommates, After Ho 95 neil black and art cormier, were both PJs, and the two men “had a certain amount of medical training; they certainly weren’t doctors, but when it came to their medical training versus what the doctors in the prison camp had, they were probably pretty well qualified.” for...