Colonel George McKnight, U.S. Air Force (Retired)

摘要

George McKnight was an exemplary soldier. He had a strong sense of duty and service to his country. No matter the situation, circumstances or difficulties, he believed he should always do his best and do the right thing. He entered the Air Force and became a skilled pilot. Unfortunately, this led to his being shot down over North Vietnam in November 1965. That first winter as a POW, the food was inadequate, and George lost a lot of weight and was sick with colds, flu and diarrhea. This would come back to haunt him later in Alcatraz. He was tortured for propaganda reasons and resisted to the utmost of his physical and mental strength. No matter how badly he was beaten down, he quickly sprang back to resist his captors. In the summer of 1966, he was severely tortured along with many others to reveal the POW communication and resistance procedures. His total resolve to hamper the North Vietnamese captors caused him to be isolated at another camp. While there, he was able to contact me and together we planned to escape. In fact, we did escape on October 12th and made it 15 miles down-river. Unfortunately, we were captured the next day - actually by accident. We almost pulled it off. This led to painful reprisal and isolation in stocks.