Douglas Brent Hegdahl (born September 3, 1946) is a former United States Navy petty officer second class (E-5) who was held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.

Dieter Dengler (May 22, 1938 – February 7, 2001) was a German-born United States Navy aviator who was shot down over Laos and captured during the Vietnam War. After six months of imprisonment and torture, and 23 days on the run, he became only the second captured US airman to escape during the war.

John Heaphy "Jack" Fellowes (November 22, 1932 – May 3, 2010) was a U.S. Navy captain, pilot who became a prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam War. He was known as "Happy Jack" because of his infectious sense of humor, which he maintained even while a POW. [1]

16 hours ago · Amarillo Thomas Creek Medical Center honored former POWs, including U.S. Army veteran Dan McKinney, for National Former POW Recognition Day. McKinney, captured during the Korean War, endured a ...

When we hear tales of POWs from the Vietnam War era, they are often marked by gruesome torture, back-breaking labor, and unimaginable hardship. However, for one POW named Doug Hegdahl, his time in a North Vietnamese prison camp was much easier.

Dec 1, 2022 · Hegdahl was a South Dakota native who was blown off the deck of the USS Canberra as the ship’s five-inch guns fired on nearby targets of opportunity. Once overboard, he floated in the South China Sea for 12 hours before being picked up by fishermen, who turned him over to the North Vietnamese.

Dec 11, 2024 · South Dakotan Douglas Brent Hegdahl, who’d never seen the ocean before joining the Navy in the midst of the Vietnam War, had somehow fallen from the ship. Just 20 years old, he survived...

Incredible story of Vietnam War hero who survived 12 hours adrift at sea and tricked his POW camp captors into thinking he was an illiterate fool - while secretly memorizing the names of 256 prisoners to tune of Old MacDonald

In a vividly written book based on archival research, personal interviews, and his experiences in the Vietnam War, Marc Leepson, for the first time, tells the incredible tale of the youngest and lowest-ranking American POW captured in North Vietnam.