9781422287811

14 SURVIVING CAPTIVITy

in the Vietnam War usually had the advantage of operating over their own territory with SAMs to help them win. Because of all the weapons North Vietnam had at its disposal, many U.S. aircraft were shot down. Some 586 USAF pilots were captured or declared missing between 1962 and 1973. In 1967 alone, 297 American aircraft were destroyed on Rolling Thunder missions. If the pilot survived, both American and North Vietnamese soldiers would rush to try to get the pilot before the other. Massive effort went into rescuing U.S. pilots who had received years of expensive aviation training and possessed valuable information about U.S. aircraft. Yet sadly, the North Vietnamese often got

A monument to captured U.S. pilots in Hanoi, Vietnam. At the close of the Vietnam War, some 2,387 servicemen were also listed as missing.