Cmdr. Porter Halyburton, U.S. Navy, Vietnam, POW Part 1

Porter Halyburton was born in Florida and grew up in North Carolina. After college, he got married and joined the U.S. Navy with a clear goal of becoming a naval aviator. He got his wish, flying the F-4. Shortly after becoming a new father, he was deployed to Vietnam in May of 1965. He wouldn’t come home for more than seven years.

In this edition of “Veterans Chronicles,” you’ll hear the first half of Porter Halyburton’s story of being a pilot, being shot down, and the horrors he endured after being captured by the North Vietnamese.

He takes us moment by moment through his experience of being hit by enemy fire, his decision to eject, his futile effort to avoid capture, and what he experienced after becoming a POW.

Halyburton also explains how the clear training he went through in case he was captured was very helpful in some circumstances but unnecessarily burdensome in others. He also shares what he suffered for refusing to answer questions from his captors. And he details how the North Vietnamese tried to use racial politics to turn him and a fellow prisoner against one another – an enemy plan that backfired spectacularly.

In our next edition, you’ll hear how Halyburton learned the U.S. government and his family thought he was killed in action, how the prisoners used the famous tap code to keep their hopes up, and how he finally came home. 

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Veterans Chronicles