[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2209-2210]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE SERVICE OF THE MEN OF THE VIETNAM WAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Denham) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  Forty years ago today, the first flight carrying U.S. prisoners of 
war out of North Vietnam lifted off from Hanoi to take the first 40 
U.S. servicemen to freedom.
  These men, some of whom had been held for 8 years in a brutal 
captivity, were just a small cohort of more than 683 Americans known to 
have been held in North Vietnamese prisons and the first of 591 POWs 
returned to American soil after the Paris Peace Accords through 
Operation Homecoming.

                              {time}  1845

  Sadly, 92 Americans died in captivity, and to this day, more than 
1,000 Americans who served in Indochina during the Vietnam war era are 
still unaccounted for.
  Today, we are here to honor both the men who survived and those who 
never returned. Their extraordinary courage, endurance, and sacrifice 
should be an example for everyone in this Chamber and across the 
country.
  I would, in particular, like to recall the service of my good friend 
Senator John McCain and of our colleague here in the House, Sam 
Johnson, who spent nearly 7 years as a prisoner of war--many of them 
locked in solitary confinement.
  The treatment that Congressman Sam Johnson and Senator McCain faced 
inside the prisons was designed to break those held. To force them to 
give military information or to serve as propaganda tools for the North 
Vietnamese regime, physical and emotional torture were used to compel 
cooperation. The denial of food and sleep deprivation were regular, 
beatings with bars and whips were common, and the binding of POWs with 
ropes and then dislocating their arms and legs was a favorite tactic.
  The names of the places that they were held have entered the 
lexicon--the Hanoi Hilton, the Alcatraz, and the Dogpatch--all names 
that conjure up images of cramped cells, isolation, filth, and savage 
pain.
  Madam Speaker, it is worth remembering that the North Vietnamese, in 
order to justify their treatment of the American captives, declared all 
of their prisoners to be war criminals and denied them all protections 
of the Geneva Convention.
  What is most remarkable is these men never broke. They kept faith 
with their country and with each other despite the extraordinary costs 
to themselves.
  When asked what kept them going, many responded their faith in God 
and their fellow prisoners. Commander Paul Galanti stated:

       What held me together was faith--four of 'em: faith in God, 
     faith in my fellow POWs--many of whom I'd never met, although 
     I felt closer to them than my own family--faith in my fellow 
     military forces and leaders whom I knew wouldn't let us down, 
     and, finally, faith in the USA.


[[Page 2210]]


  Madam Speaker, these stories and the others shared by my colleagues 
here tonight should remind us of the terrible price paid by those who 
serve our country and of the debt we owe to each of them. We must also 
continue to make every effort to recover the 1,636 missing in action 
from the Vietnam war.
  I would like to thank Mr. Dold for speaking earlier tonight on this 
topic.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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