Hanoi+Hilton+GSF

Hanoi Hilton

The real name of the Hanoi Hilton was Hoa Lo. It was originally a French colonial jail, and was named Hanoi Hilton by the soldiers and airmen that were captured and sent there. This POW camp was located near the center of Hanoi, and was the most renown prison in all of North Vietnam. The Hanoi Hilton housed more than 700 prisoners of war between 1964-1973. The North Vietnamese insisted that the captives were political internees so the conditions were absolutely horrendous. The men held there were tortured for anything they did wrong, including talking. Some men didn’t talk for six years straight. Even with the strict rules there was a way to communicate. The men established a letter chart (every letter included except for “k”).

The prisoners would tap the row number, then the column number, and that would tell which letter someone was trying to say. They got so good at this that they would tap paragraphs at a time. Torture was used regularly. POW’s had all their limbs tied up and were then thrown on the ground. Officers would come in their cell frequently to violently beat them while tied up. Senator John McCain was among the prisoners at Hanoi Hilton. He broke both of his arms and one of his legs, but after two years there he was released. The North Vietnamese used a guillotine as a mode of execution.

sources: Encyclopedia Article- Spencer C. Trucker ,Hao Lo Prison, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, Oxford,UK, Abc-Clio Inc, 1998