Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War

It's a great documentary, Little Dieter Needs To Fly. The movie Rescue Dawn is pretty good too. Either way, the history and lessons here are incredible.

This is the biography of Dieter Dengler, a German born American citizen who pulled off one of the most famous P.O.W. escapes in American history. As an honorably discharged Viet Nam era veteran myself... I appreciated (and enjoyed) his escape during the Viet Nam war even more than just for the act of his amazing escape... but additionally... the fact that he was shot down while piloting a plane over Laos... despite the fact that the United States claimed we weren't really there. Dieter was born in Germany and lived through the tail end of World War II and during bombings of his town... his Mother would take him out to hide in the forest. While in the forest... his Mother would teach him what plants were edible and how to survive in such an environment. Little did anyone in the world realize that his Mother's teachings would later save Dieter's life and make him one of the most honored and revered American servicemen during the Viet Nam War. Concurrently young Dieter fell in love with the idea of flying... as at times he watched the American planes fly low over his town. A few times he could actually see the jaunty pilots flying with an open cockpit. The author meticulously details Dieter's time after the war when he became feared by locals as he scrounged for food in a dog-eat-dog world... and his eventual immigration to the United States.Dengler joined the U.S.A.F. in the hopes of becoming a pilot, but felt he was misled and wasn't eligible to fly due to his lack of a college education. After his enlistment was over despite being an irreverent playboy and party animal... he eventually got a degree... joined the Navy... and fulfilled his boyhood dream by becoming a pilot. Along the way to Viet Nam Dieter attended the legendary "SIX-DAY SURVIVAL, EVASION, RESISTANCE, AND ESCAPE (SERE) COURSE DESIGNED TO TEACH AVIATORS HOW TO LIVE OFF THE LAND AND AVOID CAPTURE, AS WELL AS WHAT WAS EXPECTED OF THEM IF THEY EVER BECAME PRISONERS OF WAR." The motto of this program is: "WE TRAIN THE BEST FOR THE WORST." Dieter became a legend as he escaped multiple times which was unheard of. "WHEN THE P.O.W. EXERCISE ENDED... DIETER WAS READY TO MAKE HIS THIRD ESCAPE IN TWELVE HOURS. THE FIRST TO ESCAPE MULTIPLE TIMES FROM THE NAVY'S SIMULATED P.O.W. CAMP. HE WAS ALSO THE ONLY SERE GRADUATE TO GAIN WEIGHT DURING THE RIGOROUS PROGRAM." If you combine Dieter's experience surviving in Germany during and after the war with the survival skills he displayed at SERE you will at least partly understand how Dieter was able to live through the despicable, barbarous, tortuous... less than human elements he had to fight and overcome not only in the Laotian prison camp... but in the jungle itself. In addition to sadistic beatings and malnutrition in the prison... Dieter and other prisoners were used like inanimate objects in real-life games of Russian roulette. In the jungle they had to drink water filled with miniscule worms... they had to eat bugs and worms... left over pieces of animals including but not limited to eyes and other gut wrenching body parts. When he was finally rescued "DIETER WEIGHED NINETY-EIGHT POUNDS. HE WAS FOUND TO HAVE TWO TYPES OF MALARIA, INTESTINAL WORMS, FUNGUS, JAUNDICE, AND HEPATITIS. DOCTORS SAID HE WAS SO MALNOURISHED THAT IF HE HADN'T BEEN PICKED UP WHEN HE WAS, HE WOULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY OR THE NEXT.This book combines a non-stop nauseating example of man's inhumanity to man... along with the greatest... most exhilarating examples of the courage... and indefinable... undeniable... pure spirit of will... to survive... that any human being on the face of this earth... could not rightfully... look in the mirror... and seeing their own image... even on the day they pledged to never give up the fight to survive... could expect to live up to.Dieter Dengler is a true *AMERICAN-HERO*... and this book is a must read!

This book is not only a very well researched and written story of Dieter Dengler's life that covered his childhood in wartime and postwar Germany, through his early learning how to survive, on to his interesting quest to come to the USA and become a pilot, through his early disappointments in the Air Force, on the college to get an AA, and then on to acceptance and training to become a naval aviator, and his service during the Vietnam War, capture in Laos, treatment and daring escape and rescue. This book is not only brilliantly written but in great depth covers the dangers, skills, successes and sometime failure of the brave men and women who succeed in become a Naval Aviator, a skill more demanding than perhaps any other form of piloting an aircraft due to the demanding and unforgiving requirements of taking off and landing plane on an aircraft carrier in all types of weather day and night.The book very well covers the Spad pilots of the USS Ranger, the carrier LtJG Dengler flew off of and served on during his tour off Vietnam. As a retired Marine Corps officer I understand and appreciate the varying degrees of leadership and skills a military officer must serve with and under. The book shows that while there are mostly qualified and successful officers/pilots there are also some who are not that good at leading and sometimes lack in both skills and personality (I personally witnessed that a few times during my 25 years active service) and am thankfully they are few in number compared to the many selfless and dedicated officers who serve our country (same could be said about the enlisted ranks which I also had the privilege to serve among.)The book very well covers the loss of Dengler's A-1E Skyraider (Spad), his attempted evasion, capture, escape and recapture, his terrible treatment and his personal skills and determination which allowed him an opportunity to escape and evade again, until rescued by the grace of God and dedicated rescue service provided when possible.The book then covers Dengler's return to civilian life briefly and his love, loss and sad ending. It showed Dengler lived life to the fullest and bravely chose when to end it. This book is an amazing story and excellently portrays the life of a brave American. The author did a tremendous job in writing the book. There was no part in my mind that was not interesting. Also, I see where someone gave this book a one star rating because he had a paper book written in 1979 and didn't think this book could add anything. I disagree. First this book is offered electronically on Kindle which in itself is a benefit for those of us who enjoy reading off a Kindle and it is cheaper to purchase than a paperback. Secondly, this book may just offer a better written story and one more informational than the Escape from Laos book authored by Dengler. Just a thought. Whatever, I see no reason to downrate a book just because you have another book covering the story and most especially if you haven't even purchased this one.

This was an exciting book. The technical chapters about ships and flying occasionally bogged this reader down. However, if you are a pilot, were on one of the aircraft carriers during the Viet Nam War, or you are a pilot child of such a war veteran you will find those parts of the book quite interesting. My husband attended winter and jungle survival training courses before going to Viet Nam in his F4 fighter. I thank Dieter Dengler for any information that he passed on that might have helped our friends who were taken captive during their tours of duty. They returned home safely at the end of the war. My husband shared some, but not all of his survival training experiences with me because he thought such information should be kept confidential for the safety of pilots. In college, my husband also wanted to fly after looking skyward and seeing F4s scream by above him. He, also, never considered so much the killing aspect of the flying; he thought he was serving his country. Then, the Pentagon Papers were released. His attitude about the war changed, as well. Although my husband flew for the Air Force and flew an F4, I was able to experience some of the aura of that war through this book. I have recommended it to our children and to close friends who also waited for husbands during their tours in Viet Nam. I am sorry to say that I was so busy living life that I missed the news coverage of this on TV and in the papers...This book was news to me. Thank you.

This book is a great read, it is my kind of book, I love to read of those that have faced massive odds and survived to tell the tale; however the book is more a life story than that of a 'great escape' It starts with the subject's childhood in war time Germany and his migration to the USA at a young age and alone. Then his self education until qualified to enter flight training in the USN, Eventual move with the aircraft carrier 'Ranger' to the war in Vietnam and his being shot down over Laos. I did enjoy the part of the book that deals with the escape from the 'Bamboo Jail' followed by the escape and evasion from the brutal Pathet Lao and eventual pick up from the jungle by a rescue chopper, all in the nick of time.As an infantry soldier with active service jungle experience (British), I always thought that the Navy was on a massive skive with 'white sheets' every night, I also thought that life on Carriers was one long cruse; not any more, it is a terrible and dangerous job for pilots and ship's crew alike. I recommend this book and award five stars,

I ordered this book after watching Christian Bale in the movie about Dengler, the hero in the book. The book is a great description of the struggle and horrors that happen to several pilots during the war. But perhaps more important is that Bruce Henderson gives the full story of Dengler starting as a child in Germany. Although Bale is doing his best in the movie, the film focus only on the moment Dengler is shoot down. I just wished I read the book before looking at the film.

Detailed and highly readable biography of the hero of Rescue Dawn -Dieter Dengler by someone who served with him and was inspired to root out the whole story of Dieter's life which proved to be an extra-ordinary one before he ever took off for Vietnam on that fateful day.

ACE

Wow, was für eine Geschichte!Dieter Dengler hat die Armut des Krieges und der Zeit danach miterlebt und wurde Pilot in der USAF. In einem der ersten Missionen im Vietnamkrieg stürzte er ab und kam in Kriegsgefangenschaft, aus der er floh und nur knapp überlebte.Eine unglaubliche Geschichte, packend geschrieben.