Oral history transcript, John E. Stavast, interview 1 (I), 3/12/84, by Ted Gittinger

Title:

Oral history transcript, John E. Stavast, interview 1 (I), 3/12/84, by Ted Gittinger

Number of Pages:

77

Description:

Stavast's tactical reconnaissance pilot duties in Southeast Asia, starting in May 1967; restrictions in flying reconnaissance missions; night versus day missions; navigation and radar; Gerald Vananzi; plans to bomb communications system sites and waterways in North Vietnam; radar use for night missions; General Jim Cross; events leading up to Stavast's airplane crash and imprisonment; SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles) torture and interrogation; Stavast's injuries; soldiers who died in captivity, including Earl Cobeil and Edwin Atterberry; March 1968 bombing halt; how US soldiers knew when the Vietnamese were low on munitions; torture methods; prisoner of war (POW) treatment; methods POWs used to maintain their health; POW prison guards "Fidel" and "Rabbit"; identifying torturers; the attempted rescue at Son Tay prison camp; the Vietnamese POW prison camps where Stavast was held; conditions at Hoa Lo "Hanoi Hilton" prison; religious services in the prison camp; Vietnamese radio; William Schwertfeger; POW diet and living conditions, such as access to showers, beds, food, clothing; the POWs' release; Vietnamese modesty; the process of leaving the prison camp and returning to the US; meeting with Nancy Reagan; Stavast's medical condition; military debriefing; free items given to the returned POWs; repatriation and culture shock; POWs who cooperated with their captors: Edison Miller; Roger Ingvalson; military code of conduct; the possibility that Vietnam is still holding American soldiers in 1984; Stavast's rank and Vietnamese military rankings; POW meals and how they were served; psychological coping methods for POWs; John Hubbell's book P.O.W.: A Definitive History of the American Prisoner-of-War Experience in Vietnam, 1964-1973.

Contributor:

Stavast, John E.

Collection:

LBJ Library Oral Histories

Collection Description:

Go to List of Holdings

Series:

Transcripts of LBJ Library Oral Histories

Rights:

Possibly copyright restricted: see deed at end of transcript for details