Real Stories, Real People

46 years ago…Shootdown over Laos

Bruce Henderson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:28:03 +0000

On February 1, 1966, Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, my friend and shipmate, was shot down over Laos. Pictured here, his A-1 Skyraider, call sign Electron 504, on the flight deck of our carrier, USS Ranger, preparing for catapult launch. Dieter crash-landed in the dark heart of the jungle, and began his five-month, against-all-odds fight for survival. Read his incredible story in HERO FOUND: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War.

Rescue at Dawn

Bruce Henderson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:37:26 +0000

July 20, 1966: Forty-five years ago today, Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was rescued by an Air Force helicopter after a 21-day trek through the jungle following his dramatic escape from a POW camp in the dark heart of Laos. His buddy and fellow escaped POW, Duane Martin, an Air Force pilot, had been attacked and killed days earlier by a machete-wielding villager. Doctors would describe Dieter, badly malnourished and suffering from a host of jungle diseases and parasites, as being within 24 hours of dying. After being lifted by cable into the cabin of the hovering helicopter, Dieter, who weighed 98 pounds, grabbed hold of the crew chief’s leg and cried out, “Oh my God, I’m alive!”

Escape to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 21:11:24 +0000

Day 9: In their travels that day, Dieter and Duane found the jungle too dense to get through and the streams so clouded from all the rain that they couldn’t see the bottom and kept tripping. They had to walk along the banks, stretches of which were infested with leeches. Afterward, they took turns getting the slimy leeches off each other’s body. Dieter found leeches on Duane’s back so filled with blood that they had turned red, and there were more in his scalp and beard. They decided to get rid of the carbine, which had become too heavy for them to carry. Duane bent the barrel between two large rocks, then hid the weapon under a log. Dieter tossed the ammunition into a shallow pond. They spent the night on the ground in the sand and the mud. It rained nearly nonstop.

Escape to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:55:38 +0000

Day 8: On their journey the next day, they went through forests of vines and over steep rocky overhangs. Dieter was in the lead when he saw something move in front of them. About five feet away was a ferocious-looking lizard or water dragon three to four feet long. Its head was raised, and water dripped from its jaws.

Duane sighed, and Dieter took this to mean the same thing that was on his mind: meat. Dieter advanced slowly, raising the machete as the big lizard watched warily. From two feet away, Dieter swung. The blow killed the lizard instantly. Dieter turned to see Duane smiling the biggest grin he had ever seen on his thin, sunken face. Dieter deftly skinned his kill, as he had done so many times on hunting trips into the Sierra, then sliced up the stringy, snow-white flesh, which they devoured raw. A few hundred feet away they found a second course: a fig tree laden with fruit. Most of the figs were rotten and wormy, but they ate their fill of the sweet fruit and packed what they could fit into their rucksacks.

The two POWs had both been experiencing blurred vision during the past few days, but after they ate the extra food their vision cleared markedly. It had been their lucky day.

16 Days to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:39:29 +0000

Day 6: In the morning, Dieter and Duane awoke sore, sick and dispirited. Still retracing their steps, they were not paying much attention to where they were going; as a result, Duane nearly walked into three bright-coral bamboo vipers hanging from a bamboo cluster right in front of his face. The venomous snakes, considered among the deadliest in all of Southeast Asia, were coiled and ready to strike when Dieter yelled at Duane to duck, which he did at the last second.

Following a creek, it eventually widened, and they came to a junction of several waterways. Easing themselves into the cold water, they waded to the opposite bank, hoping to find a bigger river flowing into the basin. Not far away, they came to a river about 300 feet wide.

Excited, they discussed building a raft in the morning and floating to Thailand or out to the ocean. Their spirits were lifted at the thought of no more walking. They built a solid shelter that night, even putting sides on it, and stayed warm and dry for the first time in a week.

17 Days to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 03:55:35 +0000

July 4, 1966
Day 5: As the POWs ascended up the mountainous divide, they entered an inhospitable world of no sun or sky visible through the green ceiling, and walls of trees and vines blocking their way. After a few hours they had advanced only 300 feet in pouring rain. They could see they would have to climb another 3,000 feet through the dense vegetation to get over the pass. They were both panting, struggling for breath. “Duane, it’s no good,” Dieter said. “Let’s go back. Keep looking for a river.” They went a lot faster sliding down in mud and muck than they did climbing up. The day had involved more exertion than any other since their escape, and at the same time they were rapidly deteriorating physically. Yet, when it was over, they had only ended up back where they had started. Turning his head away, Dieter quietly let tears of frustration flow. He had lost track of the date, and did not know it was July 4th. He had decided months earlier that by Independence Day he would either be dead from having tried and failed to escape — or free.

18 Days to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 05:00:56 +0000

July 3, 1966
Day 4: Dieter and Duane awakened in the morning trembling from the cold, and helped each other stand up. They continued along a creek, which narrowed into a slippery, rocky gully, over which they half-walked and half-crawled. Blocked by a pile of bamboo in the creek bed, they struggled to get around it. When the gully came to an abrupt end, so did the creek. Facing a steep divide between cloud-covered mountaintops, they decided to hike over it with the hope there would be a valley with a river on the other side. The ascent, steeper than it looked, was covered by thousands of years of jungle growth.
(To be continued tomorrow…)

19 Days to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 04:48:47 +0000

July 2, 1966
Day 3: That afternoon, Dieter and Duane arrived at a waterfall that dropped thirty feet into a lagoon. It was a beautiful sight, with a thin veil of mist rising as the falls cascaded into a white-water pool. But to the weakened pilots, it was just another obstacle, with steep walls on either side that were vine-covered rock faces. They started down, holding onto the vines like ropes. Duane, who was a few feet above Dieter, lost his grip halfway down and came crashing into Dieter. The two men tumbled into the churning water below. Just before surfacing, Dieter’s lungs felt as if they would burst. Duane was lying on a flat rock, coughing up water. Dieter floated over and climbed up next to him. They were too tired to continue or even build a shelter. They bedded down on a pile of leaves under a rocky overhang. The night turned bitterly cold, and again they huddled against each other.
(To be continued tomorrow…)

20 Days to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:53:54 +0000

July 1, 1966
Day 2: This morning 45 years ago, Dieter and Duane ate a small portion of rice. They hiked along a creek all day in the rain, stopping periodically to listen for anyone following. At one point they realized they were hemmed in on one side by a solid rock cliff that went straight up, and on the other by jungle so heavy it would have taken three days to go a hundred yards. It stopped raining briefly at midday, and the sun came out. Entering a clearing, Dieter moved quickly to get a directional fix using two sticks he placed in the ground and watched to see which way the shadows moved. The good news was that the creek they were following was meandering in the direction they wanted to go: toward Thailand. They continued on, picking leeches off their legs whenever they stopped. Exhausted at the end of their second day, they built a lean-to by using vines to tie bamboo poles to a tree, and a canopy of large banana leaves for a roof. They carpeted the ground with a cushion of leaves, and huddled together as the rain thundered down from the sky.
(To be continued tomorrow…)

21 Days to Freedom

Bruce Henderson — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:03:27 +0000

Day 1: After a fiery shootout with the guards, the seven POWs who escaped from Ban Hoeui Het prison camp deep in the jungle of Laos split into three groups. Dieter and Duane Martin, an Air Force helicopter pilot, stayed together. On their first day of freedom — June 30, 1966, 45 years ago today — the monsoons arrived. It rained until Dieter and Duane were drenched and the rice they had so carefully dried and saved was soaked, along with everything else in their rucksacks. They stopped when the came to a banana tree. Whatever fruit had once hung from its limbs had been swiped by the monkeys, whose vibrant screeches and calls were a constant, along with the buzzing of mosquitoes. Soon it was raining so hard they could see only a few feet in front of them. They piled up some large fronds and crawled under them. After an hour, they continued on. The full day of exertion in their weakened state took its toll. Duane looked so emaciated that the sight of him frightened Dieter, who knew he was also looking at an image of himself. Whenever Duane said he could go no farther, Dieter implored, “Just one more hour.”
(To be continued tomorrow…)