Surviving Hell (17 page)

Gaylee's family had worked shoulder to shoulder with her writing letters, putting up billboards, and rallying support to pressure the North Vietnamese to stop torturing us. Gaylee's sisters and their husbands—Lylah and Stan Swanson, Vange and Bob Renshaw—and her mom, Ida, were the POWs' best friends. It was a thrill to see them and to be able to thank them personally just days after my release from Hanoi.

My sister, Donna, brother, John, and mother arrived at Scott two days after Gaylee and Dawn. I had a lot of catching up to do. John was married to Marky, and they had five children. When I left for combat, he was running a garage in Storden, Minnesota. He had decided to be a minister and finished four years of college and Lutheran seminary while I was in prison. As soon as he got to Scott hospital, I asked if he would give me communion. As I took the wafer into my mouth, I thanked God once again for having brought me home to this country, these people, and this life.

23rd Psalm (“The Lord is My Shepherd”)

355 Tactical Fighter Wing

A-1E Skyraider

Abbott, Bob

Armstrong, Neil

Atterberry, Ed

B-52 Stratofortress

B-66 Destroyer

“Ballad of East and West, The” (Kipling)

Ballard, Ted

Bell, Jim

Ben Casey
(television show)

Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal (1967)

Bettinger, Jim

Bgo Thi Nga

Black, Neil

Bolstad, Dick

Bomar, Jack

Borling, John

Bridger, Barry

Broughton, Jack

Burchett, Wilfred

Camp Punishment,
See
Hanoi Hilton

Cherry, Fred

Christian, Mike

Christmas Bombings (1972)

Clark Air Base

Clark Kent (Superman)

Clements, Jim

Corbeil, Earl

Cormier, Art

“Cremation of Sam Magee, The” (Service)

Day, Bud

Dellinger, David

Denton, Jeremiah

Depression (1930s)

Doumer Bridge

Dr. Zhivago
(movie)

Dramesi, John

F-105 Thunderchief

F-4 Phantom

Fonda, Jane

Forester, C.S.

Gia Lam airport

Goodfellow Air Force Base

Great Gatsby, The
(movie)

“Gunga Din” (Kipling)

Hanoi Hilton Heartbreak Hotel Cuban torturers Zoo Plantation Skid Row (Camp Punishment) guards food camp radio medicine exercise time as enemy work details church services letters and packages from home

Heartbreak Hotel,
See
Hanoi Hilton

Hickam Air Force Base

“High Flight” (Magee)

Hiteshaw, Jim

Ho Chi Minh

Hoblit, Jerry

Horatio Hornblower novels

“If ” (Kipling)

“In Flanders Fields” (McCrae)

Johnson, Harry

Johnson, Lyndon

Johnson, Samuel

Kennedy, John F.

Kipling, Rudyard

Kissinger, Henry

Korean War

Lackland Air Force Base

Laos

Larson, Swede

Le Duc Tho

Letterman, David

Lilly, Bob

Madison, Tom

Magee, John Gillespie

McCain, John

McCrae, John

McGovern, George

Medal of Honor

Metzger, Bill

MiG fighter

Moore, Clement Clarke

National League of POW/MIA Families

Nellis Air Force Base

Nixon, Richard

O'Dell, Don “Digger”

Oglesby, Carl

Plantation,
See
Hanoi Hilton

Pyle, Darrel

Reader's Digest
(magazine)

Renshaw, Vange & Bob

Rice, Chuck

Robinson, Bill

Russell, Bertrand

SAM (surface-to-air missile)

Sand Pebbles
(movie)

Sandy,
See
A-1E Skyraider

Sartre, Jean-Paul

Schultz, Bud

Scott Air Force Base

Seahorn, Jim

Service, Robert

Shelton, Charles

Shively, Jim

Shuman, Ned

Sijan, Lance

Skid Row,
See
Hanoi Hilton

Son Tay Raiders

Southwick, Ev

Spangdahlem Air Base

Sparks, Bill

Stavast, John

Sterling, Tom

Stockdale, Jim

Stockdale, Sybil

Swanson, Lylah & Stan

Takhli airbase

Tanner, Nels

Tap code

Terry, Ross

Thailand

Thorsness, Dawn (daughter)

Thorsness, Donna (sister)

Thorsness, Gaylee (wife)

Thorsness, John (brother)

Thorsness, Leo: Medal of Honor mission feelings of a failure injuries capturethoughts about religion upbringing in Minnesota and father builds memory room education meets future wife enlistment learns to fly interrogation and torture suffers hallucinationsbreaks under torture learns tap code fights for wedding ring suffers boils dental problems makes measuring tape tries to “walk” home learns about being awarded Medal of Honor moved to Camp Punishment fights boredom ponders life after prison memorizes poetry makes peephole in cell moved to larger cell plays cards by tap code steals peppers work details celebrates Easter calculating weight loss moved to mass cell in 1970 POW classes learns about man on the moon receives family photographs; relationship with Gaylee after return home encourages POW arguments speaks before Washington state senate celebrates Christmas learns of the end of the war; leaves Vietnam layover in Philippines first conversations with Gaylee delays in Hawaii sees main-land United States again reunited with family

Thud,
See
F-105

Toastmasters

Torture of POWs “suitcase trick,” Cuban torturers breaking under torture prisoners describe their experiences

Troutman, Konnie

“'Twas the Night Before Christmas”

Tyler, Chuck

Udorn Air Base

Van Loan, Jack

Vohden, Roy

Warner, Jim

Wild Weasel,
See
F-105

Wilson, Tom

World War II

Xuan Mai barracks

Young, Jim

Zoo,
See
Hanoi Hilton

Zuhowski, Chuck

Copyright © 2008 by Leo Thorsness

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.

 

 

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The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).

 

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

 

Thorsness, Leo (Leo K.), 1932-

Includes index.

eISBN : 978-1-594-03362-9

Leo (Leo K.), 1932–2. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Prisoners and prisons, North Vietnamese. 3. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Personal narratives, American. 4. Prisoners of war—United States—Biography. 5. Prisoners of war—Vietnam—Biography. 6. Fighter pilots—United States—Biography. I. Title.

DS559.4.T49 2008

959.704'37—dc22

[B]

2008002997