Dear kaeldrarose-ga;
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question.
There may have been others before him, since anything is possible in
war, but according to the official records, the first ?known? prisoner
of war during the war in Vietnam was Lieutenant (jg) Everett Alvarez,
Jr.
On Aug. 5, 1964 Alvarez, piloting an A-4 Skyhawk off the USS
Constellation, was on a bombing mission near the Vietnam-China border
at Hon Gai. Enroute, Alvarez?s last communication was "411 [his call
numbers], I'm hit ? I can't control it, I'm ejecting." He became not
only the first prisoner of war but also the first American pilot, in a
series of what would become many, shot down by the enemy.
Alvarez was eventually taken to Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi. The Vietnamese
called the place "fiery furnace" but the American soldier?s held
captive there later nicknamed it the ?Hanoi Hilton?. The jail was a
barbaric structure with virtually no modern conveniences. Prisoners we
tormented by bugs and rats and were fed rations consisting of rice,
chicken heads, rotting fish, and animal hooves.
Everett Alvarez survived the ordeal and in February 1973 was
repatriated to the United States a free man. There is a great deal of
information about Everett including a fantastic book he wrote
entitled, CHAINED EAGLE, which I must confess turned out to be one of
the finest books on the Vietnam era that I have ever read.
?Chained Eagle: The Heroic Story of the First American Shot Down Over
North Vietnam? (Paperback)
BUY.COM
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=31015321&SearchEngine=Froogle&SearchTerm=31015321&Type=PE&Category=Book&dcaid=17379
He also wrote a memoir of his painful return to civilian life,
entitled CODE OF CONDUCT:
ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS
http://www.abaa.org/detailindex.php?recnr=90648181&membernr=1763&booknr=7756&source=froogle
You will find just about everything the Internet has to offer on
Everett Alvarez by following this link:
GOOGLE
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22Everett+Alvarez%22+VIETNAM
Here are some very goods article about the Hanoi Hilton that should
give you some really good insight into the goings on there:
HANOI HILTON
http://www.vietnamwar.com/HanoiHilton.htm
THE HANOI HILTON AND THE VIETNAM WAR
http://www.farfromglory.com/hanoihilton.htm
GOOGLE
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22hanoi+hilton%22+-Opera
All of these sources will give you a good idea about the physical and
emotional treatment of the prisoners during their time in captivity.
Now, according to this document from GLOBAL SECURITY the leadership of
North Vietnam withheld the total number and identity of American POWs
in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia over whom it had direct control from
1964 to 1973. In 1997 Senator
Bob Smith (R-NH) led a delegation to Russia and elsewhere to
investigate the POW/MIA issue. In his 250-page report to Ambassador
Malcom Toon, Senator Smith, by virtue of statements attributed to
North Vietnamese General Tran Van Quang, estimated that as late as
1972, Vietnam and perhaps other governments sympathetic to Vietnam,
held as many as 1205 U.S. POWs, rather than the 368 North Vietnam
acknowledged. It now appears that we may never know for certain
exactly how many US prisoners of war were actually held in captivity
in and around Vietnam during or after the conflict.
GLOBAL SECURITY
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/1993/73772274-73776538.htm
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pow/powhome.html
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
PRISONER OF WAR/MISSING PERSONNEL OFFICE
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/vietnamwar.htm
Known cases of missing personnel are listed here:
Vietnam War
PMSEA Database Report Selection Page
(Personnel Missing -- Southeast Asia)
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/files.htm
This document shows the information available on each person who was
once missing in Vietnam but is now accounted for (either alive or
dead)
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/pmsea_acc_p_state.pdf
This document shows the information available on each person listed as
missing in Vietnam who have NOTa, as of yet, been accounted for (alive
or dead):
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/pmsea_una_p_state.pdf
This report consolidates the data from other reports and includes
?ALL? US personnel who have been accounted for ?AND? those who still
remain unaccounted for with their current status. They currently
number 3,310 individuals:
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/pmsea_all_c_all.csv
Ho Chi Minh Trail, also called Truong Son Trail, was an elaborate
system of mountain and jungle trails linking North Vietnam, South
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during the war against the United States.
The initial small trail developed into an elaborate trail system
including paths for troops and vehicles, with a total length of nearly
20,000km along the Truong Son Mountains.
Ho Chi Minh Trail is divided into 2 parts: the distance from the Ca
River Valley in Ha Tinh province to Hai Van Pass in Da Nang is called
the Northern Truong Son Trail; the distance from Hai Van Pass to the
region adjacent to the Mekong Delta in Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc
provinces, is called the Southern Truong Son Trail.
You will find an abundance of information about this route using these
links to articles and graphics:
ABOUT THE LEGENDARY HO CHI MINH TRAIL
http://www.vietquoc.com/na110400.htm
WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_Trail
GOOGLE IMAGES
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22ho+chi+minh+trail%22+
Where the ?ceremonies? are concerned, I am assuming you mean things
like Christmas and so forth while these men were held captive. For the
most part any celebrations that might have been held were mailing
propaganda. As a rule these men were not afforded any comforts except
what was necessary to keep them alive. On the rare occasions that some
celebration such a Christmas was held, and filmed, former prisoners
have said that it was done so primarily for the consumption of the
media and largely scripted and staged. The US was aware of this fact
and at one point, during December 18-29, 1972 (called the ?11 Days of
Christmas?) the White House bombed the crap out of Hanoi in an effort
to get Vietnam to release the prisoners. The Christmas celebration
that year consisted of being grateful that one of the bombs didn?t
kill them before they had a chance to get out of that place. No,
celebrations were rare and almost non-existent.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
Defined above
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
POW
MIA
VIETNAM
HO CHI MINH TRAIL
EVERETT ALVAREZ
DATABASE
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