The date was Oct. 26, 1967. I was on my 23rd mission, flying right over the heart of Hanoi in a dive at about 4,500 feet, when a Russian missile the size of a telephone pole came up—the sky was full of them—and blew the right wing off my Skyhawk dive bomber. It went into an inverted, almost straight-down spin.
I pulled the ejection handle, and was knocked unconscious by the force of the ejection—the air speed was about 500 knots. I didn't realize it at the moment, but I had broken my right leg around the knee, my right arm in three places, and my left arm. I regained consciousness just before I landed by parachute in a lake right in the corner of Hanoi, one they called the Western Lake. My helmet and my oxygen mask had been blown off.
I hit the water and sank to the bottom. I think the lake is about 15 feet deep, maybe 20. I kicked off the bottom. I did not feel any pain at the time, and was able to rise to the surface. I took a breath of air and started sinking again. Of course, I was wearing 50 pounds, at least, of equipment and gear. I went down and managed to kick up to the surface once more. I couldn't understand why I couldn't use my right leg or my arm. I was in a dazed condition. I went up to the top again and sank back down. This time I couldn't get back to the surface. I was wearing an inflatable life-preserver-type thing that looked like water wings. I reached down with my mouth and got the toggle between my teeth and inflated the preserver and finally floated to the top.
Some North Vietnamese swam out and pulled me to the side of the lake and immediately started stripping me, which is their standard procedure. Of course, this being in the center of town, a huge crowd of people gathered, and they were all hollering and screaming and cursing and spitting and kicking at me.
When they had most of my clothes off, I felt a twinge in my right knee. I sat up and looked at it, and my right foot was resting next to my left knee, just in a 90-degree position. I said, "My God--my leg!" That seemed to enrage them —I don't know why. One of them slammed a rifle butt down on my shoulder, and smashed it pretty badly. Another stuck a bayonet in my foot. The mob was really getting up-tight.
Along with John McCain, 14 other US army personnel were captured and taken to Da Nang South Vietnam POW camp.
On normal surveillance, a US spotter plane was able to find the location of the POW camp. The US special army forces decided to organize an attack on the camp and free the prisoners. Once the prisoners are free, they will need to attack the armory and arm the POW’s to help them get to the Landing Zone. When they are armed the US special army forces must overcome the Vietcong and wipe out the communication building in the town to stop reinforcements from saving the POW’s. When the communication building is destroyed, the US forces are to head to the landing zone secure the area until the helicopter arrives and escorts the POW to a secure area.


Recap of the US Special Forces objectives:
1. Attack the POW camp in Da Nang and free the 15 POW’s
2. Secure the POW’s and attacks the gun armory (Castle #2); retrieve guns for the POW’s and the grenade launcher which you will use later.
3. Protect the POW’s, use the grenade launcher to blow up the communication building in the town (building with the blue tape around it)
4. Secure the landing zone (buy raising the yellow flag) lighting the colored smoke bomb (to confirm to the helicopter the LZ is safe)
5. Load the POW’s unto the helicopter and disappear into the jungle, ready for another mission.

Recap of the Viet Cong’s objectives:
1. Protect the POW camp from any attacks. (If you are defending the camp and you are shot, you must leave the POW camp and start at a different base)
2. Protect the gun armory form any attacks. (If you are defending the armory and you are shot, you must leave the base and start at a different base)
3. Patrol the town and stop any attacks on the town (If you are defending the town and you are shot, you must leave the town and start at a respawn base)
4. Find out where the US Special Forces are taking the POW’s and stop them from extracting the POW’s.

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