As Christmas 1970 approached, 43 American prisoners of war in a large holding cell at the North Vietnamese camp known as the Hanoi Hilton sought to hold a brief church service. Their guards stopped them, and so the seeds of rebellion were planted.
The Hoa Lo prison, a 19th-century structure built by the French in central Hanoi, was christened the Hanoi Hilton by American prisoners during the Vietnam War.
A few days later, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III, a downed Navy pilot, orchestrated the resistance, knowing he would be the first to face the consequences: a beating in a torture cell.
“Ned stepped forward and said, ‘Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person,’ ” a fellow prisoner, Leo K. Thorsness, recounted in a memoir. “He went around the cell pointing to each of us individually,” Mr. Thorsness continued. “When the 42nd man said yes, it was unanimous. At that instant, Ned knew he would end up in the torture cells.”
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Up until this very moment I had never heard of Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III. But in reading his story wanted to pay homage to his memory in whatever way I can as that of a true American hero.
Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III
RIP
