Tortured with razor-sharp bamboo and fed alive to ants: The story behind one PoW’s incredible escape from Laos

Dieter Dengler just after his rescue

This is adapted from an excellent article by Zoe Brennan in the UK Daily Mail (link below), with photos added by me, about the ONLY American POW ever to escape from Laos, out of what some people believe were hundreds imprisoned there during the war.  

Many (me included) believe at least SOME US servicemen were left behind in the jungles of Laos and North Vietnam after the war, as explained in a post recently: http://peteralanlloyd.com/back-part-2/are-there-any-vietnam-war-era-pows-still-alive-in-laos-a-trip-to-sam-neua-and-vieng-xai-caves/

What became of those who remained is one of the war's great mysteries, and it's a mystery I explore in my novel, BACK.

On June 29, 1966, U.S. Navy Lt. (j.g.) Dieter Dengler, Air Force 1st Lt. Duane Martin, Air America crewman Eugene "Gene" DeBruin and four Thai civilian Air America crewmen escaped from Ban Hoeui Het POW Camp, depicted above, located deep in the Laotian jungle. (Baker Vail/adapted from map designed by Suan Sugar)

Flying low over the dangerous and impenetrable Laotian jungle on a bombing mission against the Viet Cong, U.S. Air Force Colonel Eugene Deatrick saw a lone figure waving to him from a clearing below.

He continued on his flight path, but ten minutes later - puzzled that a native in this hostile terrain would try to attract his attention - he decided to turn back for another recce. This time, he saw the letters SOS spelt out on a rock. Beside them stood an emaciated man dressed in rags, waving the remains of a parachute over his head and signalling desperately.

Deatrick radioed headquarters, who told him that no Americans had been shot down in the area, and instructed him to carry on. But the man continued waving, mouthing over and over again: "Please don't leave."

The article and more photos here: http://peteralanlloyd.com/back-part-2/tortured-with-razor-sharp-bamboo-and-fed-alive-to-ants-the-story-behind-one-pows-incredible-escape-from-laos/

© Peter Alan Lloyd

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