Former POW Blasts Renewed Smear Attacks on his Vietnam Brother, John Kerry [View All]

I was captured on April 20th of 1965 and released on February 12th of 1973, making me the 8the longest-held POW in Vietnam. During one period, November of 1969 till May of 1972, I was incarcerated in a camp we named "Camp Unity," part of the "Hanoi Hilton," with hundreds of my fellow POW's. During this time I shared a 40 man cell with Ken Cordier and in the adjoining cell were Paul Galanti and Jim Warner, all of whom were active in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth negative campaign. Contrary to statements by these men, none of us ever heard about John Kerry's testimony or statements against the Vietnam War while we were in captivity. I remember. I was there.

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But what sustained all of us during those terrible years was our supportive brotherhood because every POW relied on his brothers for survival. This bond transcended any differences in race, rank or politics. Just before our repatriation in 1973 we formed a fraternal group, "The Fourth Allied POW Wing," also known as "Nam POWs." It was to be an apolitical and fraternal organization of those who "returned with honor."

And it wasn't until 2004 that the fraternal bond was broken and many former POW's were stunned and sickened to see a small number of our former cellmates enter the political fray with the negative Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against John Kerry. Regretfully, many of us remained silent as a multi-million dollar political smear campaign diminished and denigrated Kerry's service in Vietnam.

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