Incredible story of Vietnam POW Doug Bergdahl
- Douglas B. Hegdahl, 77, is among the unsung heroes of the Vietnam War
- Navy sailor tricked his captors by pretending to be an illiterate idiot
- Secretly memorized the names of 256 POWs to deliver phrase to their households
The captured US Navy sailor identified to his North Vietnamese guards as ‘The Incredibly Stupid One’ had a sneaky trick up his sleeve.
During the Vietnam War, Seaman Apprentice Douglas B. Hegdahl survived for 2 years within the notorious ‘Hanoi Hilton’ jail by posing as an illiterate idiot, whereas secretly memorizing the names of 256 American servicemen held there.
Memorized to the tune of ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm’, the checklist of names doubtless saved many lives, by confirming the boys had been nonetheless alive and placing immense strain on the North Vietnamese to launch them on the warfare’s finish.
Hegdahl, now 77, resides quietly in San Diego, retired after an illustrious profession spent educating on the US Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) School at Naval Base Coronado.
A member of the family advised DailyMail.com he’s ‘probably not fascinated with consideration typically’ and did not want to communicate publicly about his harrowing warfare expertise.
But Hegdahl is among the nice unsung heroes of the Vietnam War, and a legend amongst fellow veterans and former POWs. This is his exceptional story of survival.
Navy sailor Douglas B. Hegdahl survived for 2 years within the notorious ‘Hanoi Hilton’ jail by posing as an illiterate idiot
Hegdahl, now 77, secretly memorized the names of 256 American servicemen held prisoner in Vietnam, permitting them to be reclassified from MIA to POW years earlier than the warfare ended
Born in 1946 in Clark, South Dakota, Hegdahl enlisted within the Navy in 1966 with one objective: he needed to see Australia.
The Navy granted his want with an task to the USS Canberra, with a recruiter telling Hegdahl that the guided missile cruiser would doubtless make a port name at its namesake metropolis in Australia throughout his hitch, based on a fellow POW’s account.
Hegdahl was educated as a gunner’s mate, however earlier than the ship made it Down Under, it was despatched to patrol off the the coast of Vietnam, the place American intervention had quickly escalated.
On April 5, 1967, Hegdahl was as a result of work an early morning watch, however beforehand determined to get some recent air on the deck, apparently unaware that the ship’s eight-inch weapons had been firing at targets on Vietnam’s Highway 1.
Recoil from the weapons knocked Hegdahl overboard, and when he got here to within the water, his cries for assist had been drowned out by the growth of artillery.
He watched treading water because the Canberra sailed over the horizon, however vowed to outlive.
Hegdahl normal a crude lifejacket out of his pants, and made his manner in the direction of shore as soon as the solar got here up within the east. He was within the water for 12 hours earlier than Cambodian fishermen rescued him.
Though the fishermen had been pleasant, they instantly turned him over to the North Vietnamese, who accused him of being a CIA commando. Hegdahl, who was carrying no ID, needed to suppose rapidly to outsmart his captors.
‘I had most likely probably the most embarrassing seize of the complete Vietnam War,’ Hegdahl recalled in an interview for the 1997 documentary, Vietnam POWs: Stories of Survival.
‘I discovered that my protection posture was simply to play dumb. Let’s face it, if you fall off the boat, you have got so much to work with,’ he added.
Seaman apprentice Douglas Hegdahl (proper) and Lt. Cmdr. Richard Stratton take showers within the Hanoi Hilton. This photograph, made by two East German photographers was one of many first views revealed in America of captured servicemen in Vietnam
Hegdahl, seen in an East German propaganda video, was allowed to roam freely within the camp and tasked with sweeping the courtyard after convincing guards he was an illiterate idiot
The gates of the notorious Hoa Lo jail, additionally referred to as the Hanoi Hilton, are seen above
Hedgahl was taken to Hỏa Lò Prison, higher often called the Hanoi Hilton. Nearly all the opposite prisoners had been captured pilots, and as an enlisted man he was among the many most junior-ranked POWs.
At first, jail guards had been astonished when Hegdahl eagerly agreed to write down out propaganda statements condemning the US.
But as they dictated the assertion, he requested learn how to spell each phrase, and wrote in an illegible hen scratch, pretending to be illiterate and telling them he was a ‘poor peasant’ from North Dakota.
The guards believed they’d struck gold with a prisoner silly sufficient to do their bidding, and introduced in a tutor to show him learn how to write.
But they quickly discovered Hegdahl to be an unteachable scholar, apparently unable to understand even the rudiments of the written phrase, and gave up attempting to tutor him.
Probing for weaknesses, the guards as soon as requested Hegdahl what he needed greater than something on the planet, anticipating him to reply that he needed to return house.
He confounded them by considering laborious and responding ‘a pillow,’ for the reason that jail camp beds had none.
The guards started to check with Hegdahl as ‘The Incredibly Stupid One’ and thought of him innocent sufficient to roam freely within the jail camp, the place he was tasked with sweeping up.
‘That’s not a really heroic resistance posture, nevertheless it acquired me via some fairly robust instances,’ Hegdahl recalled.
Hegdahl is seen in captivity. He was among the many lowest rating males within the jail camp, since most different POWs had been pilots who had been shot down
‘I discovered that my protection posture was simply to play dumb. Let’s face it, if you fall off the boat, you have got so much to work with,’ Hegdahl recalled in a 1997 interview
Hegdahl was assigned to a cell with an Air Force pilot, Lt. Joseph Crecca Jr, who speculated that the enlisted sailor can be among the many first launched, and tasked him with memorizing the names of each POW.
‘At first I assumed it could be an unattainable job,’ Hegdahl recalled in a 1998 documentary, Return With Honor.
But Crecca suggested him to make use of a rhyme or jingle to assist him commit the names, and Hegdahl chosen the tune of ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm’.
Eventually, Hegdahl memorized the names and ranks of 256 males, in addition to particulars equivalent to Social Security numbers or a pet’s title to confirm their authenticity.
Meanwhile, Hegdahl used his freedom as he swept the jail yard to sabotage 5 North Vietnamese vans, ready for the guard to go to sleep, after which placing a small quantity of grime within the fuel tanks at a time.
‘I noticed 5 vans towed disabled out of the jail camp,’ wrote fellow POW Dick “Beak” Stratton, a Navy pilot, in an essay about Hegdahl.
‘Doug Hegdahl, a highschool graduate from the mess decks fell off a ship and has 5 enemy vans to his credit score,’ added Stratton, saying that Hegdahl is one in all solely two males he is aware of of who destroyed enemy gear whereas a POW.
Stratton continued: ‘I’m a World Famous Golden Dragon (VA 192) with two faculty levels, 2000 jet hours, 300 provider landings and 22 fight missions. How many enemy vans do I’ve to my credit score? Zero.’
To sow dissent and break the spirits of prisoners, the guards would typically dangle the provide of an early launch to those that cooperated.
Naval officer James Stockdale, who later ran for vp in 1992 on Ross Perot’s ticket, was probably the most senior officer held within the Hanoi Hilton, and strictly forbade any males to just accept early launch.
‘I put the phrase out, no fink releases,’ Stockdale recalled within the 1997 documentary. ‘Accept no amnesty, all of us go house collectively.’
Prisoners who disobeyed Stockdale’s orders and accepted the early releases had been thought-about ‘rat finks’ and traitors by the boys who remained behind.
But when the guards supplied Hegdahl an opportunity at launch, his superiors among the many POWs ordered him to just accept it, and get the knowledge he had in regards to the prisoners again to the Pentagon.
‘Doug didn’t need to be put in the identical boat, the identical thought course of, with these rat finks,’ recalled Stratton.
‘So he was hesitant. He didn’t need to be tarred brushed with a “go home early label”. And it is a measure of I believe, his bravery that he took a really unpalatable order and obeyed it.
Douglas B. Hegdahl (middle) arrives again within the US with two different prisoners launched from North Vietnam in 1969
Accompanied by anti-war activist Rennie Davis (proper), Hegdahl (second from left) and the 2 different prisoners freed alongside him are seen after their launch
Hegdahl, who misplaced 60 kilos in captivity, addresses the press after his launch
Hegdahl was launched on August 4, 1969, alongside two different males who, not like him, didn’t have orders to just accept launch.
When he sat down in a debriefing and commenced reeling off names in a sing-song jingle, the shocked interviewer requested him to decelerate.
‘No, it is like using a bicycle, you tip over,’ Hegdahl recalled answering.
He later mentioned: ‘But that was the factor I used to be most likely most happy with, to vary the standing of fairly a number of individuals from MIA to POW.’
Hegdahl acquired an honorable discharge from the Navy on July 1, 1970, and remained within the inactive reserves till October 24, 1972. He achieved the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class.
He went on to show survival abilities on the Navy SERE School for a few years, and in 1998, at a reunion dinner for POWs, he was nonetheless capable of recite the entire checklist of names.
Although different early returnees carried a stigma for accepting launch earlier than all prisoners might return house, Hegdahl was at all times embraced by fellow POWs.
