Six Years in the Hanoi Hilton: An Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in Vietnam by Amy Shively Hawk is an easy yet difficult read. It was easy because it was well-written, relatively short, and engaging. It was difficult because of the content. It was emotional, heartbreaking, and troubling – yet a profound statement of how truly resilient and brave some people are capable of being.
In 1967, US Air Force fighter pilot James Shively was shot down over North Vietnam. After ejecting from his plane, he landed in a rice paddy and was captured by the North Vietnamese Army. For the next six years, Shively endured inhumane treatment – at regular intervals – at the hands of the enemy in Hanoi prison camps.
This book was written by Shively’s stepdaughter, who compiled his notes, some interviews he did, and various documents to reconstruct his experiences and tell his story. She begins the book by making it clear that she means no disrespect in anything she writes, and simply wants to provide an account of what her stepfather endured to give his experience meaning.
The book itself is divided into three parts – essentially before, during, and after. This was a nice discovery, as a complete focus on only the captivity would have been incomplete. To really understand Jim Shively and his ordeal, it was important we knew what led to the capture, what he endured, and what impact it had. Without that knowledge of the before and after, the middle would not have had the impact that it had.
The ‘before’ section provides a glimpse of Jim’s upbringing and who he was prior to his capture. It tells of his love of baseball, his reticence in joining the military, and his sense of humor and arrogance during his flight training.
In the ‘during’ section, the capture and subsequent treatment of Shively within Hanoi are detailed. This is a difficult part to listen to, as the acts of torture and mistreatment alongside deliberate attempts at propaganda were hard to hear. That said, they were necessary to hear to truly have an appreciation of the resilience, faith, and mindset of these individuals who couldn’t see an end in sight. This section spoke of secret means of communicating (tapping with lookouts since such communication efforts would result in beatings), treatment of infections, misinformation being sent to family members, and ways the prisoners kept their sanity.
By the time the ‘during’ section ended, you were definitely left wondering how any of these soldiers could have endured with any hope left in them. And then it happened – the war ended and they were freed. And that led into the last section of the book – the ‘after’ section. Here, we hear about what life was like for Jim after he returned. His attempts to have a ‘normal’ life while being in the spotlight as a hero. His move away from the military to a career as a lawyer – still fighting for the little guy. His reunion with his high school sweetheart. His reaction to his house catching fire and his family’s possessions going up in smoke. And his final defeat in his battle against cancer.
As hard as the ‘during’ section was, the ‘after’ section might have been harder – particularly hearing the tributes that people shared about him. I was left wishing I had known this person and hoping I have the chance to impact somebody in the way he clearly impacted others.
Alright – but what about the setting? You’re not going to find much of that here. The descriptions of Vietnam were fairly minimal with some brief mentions of rice paddies and dirt roads. Most of the descriptions of Hanoi were of the prison camps. There were also many references to the heat and some references to bugs and snakes, but not much beyond this. If you’re going to be able to visit Hỏa Lò Prison Museum, then I think it’s worth a read to know ahead of time what you’re going to be witnessing. By having a real-life story in your mind as you tour the museum, it may provide greater context and meaning to the relics. Final assessment: I would absolutely recommend this book (though perhaps you read another one if your goal is to get a greater glimpse of Hanoi life beyond this prison). This book is not only a good read, but an important one. It doesn’t matter what your feelings are regarding war, politics, belief systems, or certain areas of the world. This story is about more than those things. It’s about hardships, particularly those faced by a certain POW, and how he and others chose not only to survive but also how to let such traumatic events color their views of the world, their circumstances, and their treatment of others. We could all learn something from Jim Shively.