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

1, Unfortunate Sons

9 1 Unfortunate Sons Late in the evening of 4 august 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appeared on television to inform the world of u.s. retaliatory strikes against north Vietnam in response to the gulf of Tonkin incidents involving the u.s.s. Maddox and C. Turner Joy. “as i speak to you tonight,” the president announced, “air action is now in execution against gunboats and certain supporting facilities in north Vietnam which have been used in these hostile operations.” in concluding his brief remarks, the president stated, “our response for the present will be limited and fitting.”1 unfortunately for those involved in the mission, Johnson’s irresponsible demand to appear on television before the end of the late-night news and “the final deadline for the major east coast papers” eliminated the element of surprise.2 When the president addressed the nation, only four of the fifty-nine planes making up operation Pierce arrow were actually airborne, and those four were 350 miles from their targets. among those yet to take off was Lieutenant (j.g.) everett alvarez Jr., a navy pilot. in a bizarre twist of fate, alvarez had been part of the response to the alleged attacks on the Maddox and C. Turner Joy the previous night. he had dropped illumination flares for a fellow navy pilot, commander James stockdale, as they attempted to identify the two american ships and any would-be attackers.3 called into action again, alvarez was part of a squadron of a-4c skyhawks “assigned to hit the naval base at hon gai harbor, about twenty-five miles northeast of haiphong and only fifty miles south of the chinese” border. because of an eleven-hour time difference between Washington, d.c., and hanoi, the bulk of the strike force launched during the afternoon hours of 5 august. at 2:30 p.m. local time, alvarez was the first launch off of the u.s.s. Constellation. he reached his target seventy-five minutes later, only to discover that 10 THE LONGEST RESCUE the “briefers had guessed” wrong and the torpedo boats were on the opposite side of the harbor. he made a second pass, and as he headed out over the southern edge of the town, he received fire on the port side of his windshield. forced to eject,alvarez splashed into the choppy waters of the gulf of Tonkin. he successfully extracted himself from his parachute but discovered that he was coated with a black dye; the vial of shark repellent in his survival vest had broken. as militiamen approached in sampans, alvarez’s thoughts shifted to his wife of seven months, Tangee, and his beloved mother, chloe. he then realized that he had forgotten to remove his wedding ring; pilots had been warned that captors could use information about family members to exploit prisoners during interrogations. alvarez worked quickly to slip off the ring, and as the symbol of love floated to the bottom of the gulf, the young pilot made a promise to his bride: “don’t worry, sweetheart . . . someday i’ll get you another one.” The vow was not necessary. Tangee divorced her prisoner husband nearly two years before his release from north Vietnam.4 everett alvarez was the first american serviceman captured in north Vietnam, and his more than eight and a half years in captivity would earn him the sobriquet the old man of the north. his chronological counterpart in the south was army captain floyd “Jim” Thompson, whose nine years in captivity marked him as the old man of the south, and more grimly, the longest-held serviceman in american military history.5 among those to follow alvarez and Thompson in captivity were some men who were born to wave the flag, including an admiral’s legacy, and they would be asked to sacrifice a great deal for their country. years of torture, torment, frustration, and lack of freedom meant that there would be no fortunate sons in north Vietnam. one of those unfortunate sons was bill Robinson. Life in a Cotton-Mill Town The small cotton-mill town of Roanoke Rapids, north carolina, was home to the Robinson clan. William eugene (gene) Robinson, bill’s grandfather, planted roots there in 1920, when, at the age of sixteen, he moved from southeastern Virginia to the tight-knit community Unfortunate Sons 11 in northeastern north carolina. gene Robinson was not alone. between 1910...