What an eye opening account of Navy LTJG Porter Halyburton's time and experiences as a POW in North Vietnam. The author, along with all of the POWs, endured hardships, pain, terrifying living conditions, and much more, and lived to tell about all of it. Porter's memory alone is absolutely incredible. His attention to detail in recounting prison life, along with many details about the lives of the people he was imprisoned with, is amazing. I feel motivated by his ability to take a horrendous life experience and turn it into a positive life learning experience for himself, shaping what his civilian life looked like after his return home.

Thank you NetGalley and Naval Institute Press for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Naval Institute Press for access to this arc.

These are the candid memories of a Navy fighter pilot shot down and held captive in various prisons in North Vietnam. Halyburton keeps most of these stories on a brighter side then others I have read or the “Return with Honor” documentary. He mentions his decision to decide how he reacted to the situation and to keep the North Vietnamese from gaining the control they wanted over his life.

In the aftermath of long captivity, suffering, and difficult times, I thought a lot about how we were able to survive—and not only to survive but to “Survive with Honor” and to “Return with Honor,” as had become our creed. I tried so hard always to stay active—mentally, physically, and spiritually—and I think this was a very important aspect of my survival. Along with the other POWs, I also made it my daily mission to deny the Vietnamese the control over our lives that they tried to establish through propaganda, indoctrination, degradation, intimidation, fear, deprivation, threats, isolation, boredom, pain, and lies.

He discusses the three stages of his time in captivity, based on what was going on, starting with his capture and months spent with Fred Cherry as his roommate – something he thinks the North Vietnamese did because they thought that putting a Southern White man in with one of the few Black POWs and having Halyburton take care of the badly wounded Cherry would be repugnant to Halyburton. Instead Halyburton describes how Cherry was a source of inspiration and leadership to him and that the two developed what turned out to be a lifelong friendship.

This was followed by a time in other prisons during which he and the others were tortured and interrogated including terrible treatment after two other POWs escaped only to be recaptured. But as he was together with eight other men in one room, they passed their time learning from each other, taking turns entertaining each other with “movie nights,” while Halyburton also sought out other music lovers and committed songs to his “juke box” memory. This was also when he discovered that, after years of thinking that he’d died in the plane crash, his family now knew that he’d survived.

After Ho Chi Minh died, their treatment improved with better living conditions, food, clothing, opportunities to openly teach each other, time to exercise, and more mail from home. But after years of having their hopes of being released raised only to be dashed, all the POWs remained controlled until the signs were unmistakable that the Peace Accords had been signed and they were finally going home.

Halyburton is a man of deep faith who said prayers helped to sustain him but he also credits his fellows with all working together to keep their spirits up over the years. In the time since then, he has obtained several post graduate degrees, taught, and in later years he and his wife have led trips back to Hanoi. But one of the best things he says he did was to leave behind the anger that had helped keep him going during his captivity instead of letting it poison his life from then on. B

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this to review!

As a fan of history and specifically the history of warfare, I thought that this was a very enjoyable read. It was incredible to hear the tale of courage, survival and committment from Porter Alexander Halyburton. Spanning the time of his capture and eventual release, it is incredible to hear from someone who was a POW at the Heartbreak facility. There are scores of Hollywood recreations of this particular period of time, but none come close to shinning a light compared to Cmdr. Halyburton. If you are a history buff, this has to be a must read.

The only place this loses are star from me (and admittedly, this may be because this was an ARC) is that there were a few grammatical choices that seemed odd and the formatting of having photos where they did made it difficult to read. Specifically, photos were added mid-text and occassionally it was a headache to try and decipher the caption from the sentene I was previously reading. Personally, I am more of a fan of photos coming in a one lump-sum appendix either in the middle of the book or at its conclusion.

Great book!

When porter Alexander Halliburton‘s plane went down in the Viet Cong territory his only thoughts were for survival. He knew what he was trying to do and he was going to do that irregardless of whatever negative consequences that would come his way. This book is not only a book up imprisonment in the most horrible circumstances but friendship hope and the things that become important when all else is lost. I thoroughly enjoyed this book I think my favorite part was when he an airman Cherry lived together and the friendship that grew out of that but every story was told with dignity and some with polarity but all Lawrence attaining. Are usually do not like memoirs because people love the path her self on the back but that isn’t the case with Mr. Halliburton he tells an honest and funny and humble tale of torture and depravity that he lived through. they have some very heartbreaking moments in the book in and out of the prison but it’s all so worth reading. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

5/5 stars! Every now and then a book comes along that is truly special; this is one of those books. As a Navy Veteran myself, I may be biased, but this book was powerful and moving. Prisoners of War have experienced things no one else could ever fully understand, and yet, Commander Halyburton found a way to address it with dignity, humor, and forgiveness. Breaking the story into three time periods of adjustment in captivity: concentrating on the past, concentrating on the future, and finally accepting the present, speaks volumes to resilience and growth. Told in short stories, it was a captivating read, and extremely easy to relive these moments through Commander Halyburton's eyes. A must-read for any servicemember or Veteran and anyone interested in better understanding the hard moments that have defined our country.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This was a wonderful book. I have read several books of this type in the past, and this one was different in that I got the visceral view of the author's experience.

I did find one glaring mistake, however. About 84 percent through the book there was a reference to Hickham Air Force base being in San Francisco. Hickham Air Force Base is on Oahu in Hawaii.