The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is
Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the
USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison-the "Hanoi Hilton."
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed
in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American
"Peace Activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and dragged away.
During the subsequent beating, he fell forward upon the camp
Commandant's feet, which sent that officer berserk. In '78, the AF
Col. still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his
flying days) from the Vietnamese Col.'s frenzied application of a
wooden baton.
From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He
spent 6 years in the "Hilton"- the first three of which he was
"missing in action". His wife lived on faith that he was still
alive. His group, too, got the cleaned, fed, clothed routine in
preparation for a "peace delegation" visit.
They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the
world that they still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of
paper, with his SSN on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded
before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each
man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you
sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane
treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an
act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line
and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the
POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him the little
pile of papers. Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Col.
Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only
reason we know about her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was
captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in
1968, and held for over 5 years. I spent 27 months in solitary
confinement, one year in a cage in Cambodia, and one year in a
"black box" in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately
poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium
in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the
Cambodian border.
At one time, I was weighing approximately 90 lbs. (My normal
weight is 170 lbs.) We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals."
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist
political officer if I would be willing to meet with Jane Fonda. I
said yes, for I would like to tell her about the real treatment we
POWs received different from the treatment purported by the North
Vietnamese, and parroted by Jane Fonda, as "humane and lenient."
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees
with outstretched arms with a large amount of steel placed on my
hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane till my arms dipped.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda for a couple of
hours after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to
debate me on TV. She did not answer me.
This does not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of
"100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget..."100 years of great
women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with
the blood of so many patriots. There are few things I have strong
visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant
treason, is one of them.
Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly
can. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know
that we will never forget.
