Photos of US POWs having a dandy time
playing pool are at odds with numerous
accounts by officers.  Current Vietnamese
government holds to the view that these
were criminals, “pirates” and “bandits”, who
attacked Vietnam without authority.  They
also say they were not bound to Geneva
Convention rules of POW treatment, because
their country never signed it.
This prison was used by the French colonists
for political prisoners at the turn of the last
 century, depicted here in leg irons.  The
 Vietnamese used it in the 1960’s and 70’s for
 American POWs, mostly pilots, who were
 brutally tortured and interrogated – not for
 military information, but to make forced anti-
American propaganda statements.
Most pilots, such as John McCain, were already
in bad shape at the time they were captured,
either from ejection or forced landing.  Sanitation
and food conditions were extremely poor.
Chilling courtyard artwork.
All that remains of the original
 prison is this doorway, built
by the French.  Believe it or
not, there is now a high rise
apartment building on top.

       

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