Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW
On October 17, 1965, Navy LTJG Porter Halyburton was shot down over North Vietnam on his 76th mission and listed as killed in action. One-and-a-half years later he was found to be alive and a prisoner of war. Halyburton was held captive for more than seven years. Reflections on Captivity, is a collection of fifty short stories about this young naval officer's experiences as a POW in North Vietnam. 

​This book recounts difficult times but focuses more on the positive aspects  I—the humor, creativity, friendships, courage, and leadership of an amazing group of Americans and how they helped each other survive and even thrive. These vignettes demonstrate how the human mind, body, and spirit can adapt and find meaning in life in the most challenging circumstances. There are powerful lessons learned from this complex experience that continue to guide the author's life to this day. Despite hardship, suffering, and long separation, Halyburton strongly believes one's quality of life is determined more by choices made than by circumstances, and the most liberating choice we can make is to forgive. 

Reflections on Captivity furthers the reader's understanding about the nature of captivity, race relations, human relations, aspects of the air war against North Vietnam, and highlights the importance of leadership, ethics, and devotion to duty in difficult times.
"1141091250"
Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW
On October 17, 1965, Navy LTJG Porter Halyburton was shot down over North Vietnam on his 76th mission and listed as killed in action. One-and-a-half years later he was found to be alive and a prisoner of war. Halyburton was held captive for more than seven years. Reflections on Captivity, is a collection of fifty short stories about this young naval officer's experiences as a POW in North Vietnam. 

​This book recounts difficult times but focuses more on the positive aspects  I—the humor, creativity, friendships, courage, and leadership of an amazing group of Americans and how they helped each other survive and even thrive. These vignettes demonstrate how the human mind, body, and spirit can adapt and find meaning in life in the most challenging circumstances. There are powerful lessons learned from this complex experience that continue to guide the author's life to this day. Despite hardship, suffering, and long separation, Halyburton strongly believes one's quality of life is determined more by choices made than by circumstances, and the most liberating choice we can make is to forgive. 

Reflections on Captivity furthers the reader's understanding about the nature of captivity, race relations, human relations, aspects of the air war against North Vietnam, and highlights the importance of leadership, ethics, and devotion to duty in difficult times.
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Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW

Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW

by Porter A Halyburton
Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW

Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW

by Porter A Halyburton

eBook

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Overview

On October 17, 1965, Navy LTJG Porter Halyburton was shot down over North Vietnam on his 76th mission and listed as killed in action. One-and-a-half years later he was found to be alive and a prisoner of war. Halyburton was held captive for more than seven years. Reflections on Captivity, is a collection of fifty short stories about this young naval officer's experiences as a POW in North Vietnam. 

​This book recounts difficult times but focuses more on the positive aspects  I—the humor, creativity, friendships, courage, and leadership of an amazing group of Americans and how they helped each other survive and even thrive. These vignettes demonstrate how the human mind, body, and spirit can adapt and find meaning in life in the most challenging circumstances. There are powerful lessons learned from this complex experience that continue to guide the author's life to this day. Despite hardship, suffering, and long separation, Halyburton strongly believes one's quality of life is determined more by choices made than by circumstances, and the most liberating choice we can make is to forgive. 

Reflections on Captivity furthers the reader's understanding about the nature of captivity, race relations, human relations, aspects of the air war against North Vietnam, and highlights the importance of leadership, ethics, and devotion to duty in difficult times.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781682478448
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Publication date: 11/15/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 176
Sales rank: 455,179
File size: 17 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Porter Halyburton spent twenty years on active duty in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a commander in 1984. He spent another twenty years on the faculty of the Naval War College, retiring as Professor of Strategy Emeritus in 2006. Among his many medals and awards, he received the Silver Star for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” while interned. Porter is a potter, woodworker, poet, public speaker, and traveler. He still possesses the tombstone that his mother had placed in the family plot when he was declared KIA and says that he likes looking down on it rather than up from it.  He and Marty, his wife of nearly sixty years, have three grown children and one grandson.  

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 Rolling with the Punches 13

No Such Thing as a Rotten Banana

Worse Place, Better Place

The First Christmas

Fred Cherry's Ordeal

The Briarpatch

Locked Out at the Briarpatch

Chop on the Log

Butts in the Back

I Know Why Caged Tigers Pace

Stockdale

Hanoi Chess

Teaching the Tap Code

Killed in Action

Pat Lamb

Percy in the Attic

Part 2 Surviving 85

The Onagers

The Escape

The Elf

First Package

Memory Bridge

Telling Movies

Dental Care in the DRV

Bamboo Slide Rule

More Onagers

Deep Knee Bends

Christmas in Hanoi

Part 3 Beating the System 123

A Change for the Better

Sang, Tang, Si, Con, Nat

The Son Tay Raid

Sleeping Bag

Quack, Quack!

The Chamber Pot Dance

The Juke Box

Learning German

Artificial Inspiration Generator

Survival Kit

Boils, Bedbugs, and Pinkeye

The Russian Novel

Seventy-Seven Categories

Truck to the Dogpatch

The Green Sweater

Ghost Story

Hanoi Journal

One Step Closer to Home

Another Step Closer

Home at Last

Epilogue. Looking Back 175

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Boors in Hanoi

Hoa Lo Prison Museum

Appendix. List of American POWs Mentioned in This Book 195

Notes 199

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