What happened to major kenneth north who was captured on 8-1-1966?

Answer 1

Jodi North, now known as Jodi Birchall, was known as a "military brat" during childhood. This was because her father Kenneth North was a major in the air force and she traveled from base to base, from Hawaii to Oklahoma. Her father had to go on the occasional top secret "training missions", commonly referred to as TDY's. This specific TDY would be a one year training mission in Thailand. At least that's what the North's were told. In reality Major North would be bombing North Vietnam from an air base in Thailand. The North's moved to Wellfleet Massachusetts for the year to their grandparent's house, the plan was that after the Major served his year he would return for deployment stateside as he had spent more than enough time overseas for his country.

On August, 1, 1996 a blue sedan rolled up to the North residence. Inside Mrs. North saw the sedan and, expecting the worst, sent her daughter to answer the door. They opened the door to an army chaplain who announced that their father had been shot down over North Vietnam.

During a bombing raid Major North's squadron was experiencing major ground fire when his F105 was hit. He hit the eject button and the canopy flew off but the seat didn't eject. The C02 in his seat did release causing multiple spinal compressions even though he managed to manually eject his seat. He landed in the trees and radioed in that he was alive, his fellow squadron members flew back around, saw that he had landed and returned to base. After this he followed radio silence as per protocol. He NVA found him hiding in the jungle. They tied him up and pistol whipped him. The young North Vietnamese soldiers were ready to kill him but realized that he was an officer who could possibly have important military information. They proceeded to march him into the Hoa Lo prison, which due to its brutality was nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton by the POW's, while being stoned and jeered at.

Back at home the North's were briefed on what to expect by the CIA and this news inspired the North's to go an advocate for better treatment of POW's. According to the Geneva Convention each prisoner is supposed to have 1 correspondence each month and a 5 lbs package every other, this wasn't the case for Major North and other prisoners. The Vietnam War wasn't declared a war so technically the Geneva Convention didn't apply to the NVA.

In the Hanoi Hilton the POW's were locked in Solidarity and their only chance to communicate was in the public center where they were allowed to go once a week to take a rain shower and empty their waste buckets. Inside the prison they were served what they called Weed & Broth which was literally some flavored broth and unidentifiable weeds, Major North described it as lucky if you got an eyeball of a chicken for protein. These meager meals caused sever vitamin depletion deficiency which would lead to major problems later in life. Not only were the prisoners starving but they were tortured every single day.

The first torture Major North suffered was at a table across from an office. He would ask questions and Major North would respond with his name, serial, number and rank. All this time he had his hands handcuffed behind his back. Each time he failed to answer a question his arms would be lifted up, this was repeated until his shoulders were dislocated and he would be dragged back to his cell where he would relocate them. After he became accustomed to shoulder dislocation they would do the same to his hips. Still the Major didn't break. Another torture he underwent was branding by a red hot poker. One of the worst tortures was called the black box. Buried in the courtyard were 3 cubic 18 cubic meter black metal boxes. The prisoners were stuffed in these boxes for different periods of time. Major North had to endure one weak in one. The boxes would heat up and cause their prisoners to sweat profusely causing cramps. This would be excruciatingly painful as the victims wouldn't be able to stretch the cramp out. Some prisoners died in the boxes from drowning during the rainy season while others were bitten by millipedes and rats. The worst torture Major North underwent was being tied to a post with wet suede leather. The post was positioned over a mound of fire ants that crawled over his skin continually biting him. When the leather dried it shrank and cut open his skin letting the ants crawl inside and infect him with their poison. This caused the Major to go into anaphylactic shock where his tongue became swollen and he couldn't breathe. This was the only point during Major North's ordeal where he wished he was dead. The NVA captors were so persistent with the Major because they assumed those who didn't break held special information which determined them to crack these soldiers.

Inside the prison the POW's were able to tap Morse Code messages to each other which allowed present news get to each and every prisoner. Each soldier had undergone a survival school which taught them to communicate and use mental abilities to remain alert and sane. These up to date prisoners drove their captives mad with their knowledge of current events as the Vietnamese were baffled as to how the prisoners knew so much.

Back home the movement for POW treatment had escalated and Mrs. North had secured a meeting with Henry Kissinger, the U.S secretary of state, in which she convinced him to ensure he would work to their goals. In the Hilton life slowly began to improve. The solidarity rules ended and the Major ended up in a room with John McCain and 8 others. The North's finally received a letter from their father which showed that he thought that his family had been receiving previous letters. This letter had to be sent to the CIA for processing.

The Vietnam War ended but the Major wasn't released until the spring of 1973. Major North landed on the last plane then called his family, the first thing his wife said "why the hell weren't you on the first plane" (which he was supposed to according to plan and as it was a televised event the stress had been killing the family) to which he replied that he had to make sure that no man was left behind. He returned home with a huge parade from the Orleans rotary to Wellfleet where he found a paved driveway and addition to his house that the town had donated to the family. He returned to the service 60 days later and never looked back until he retired a brigadier general and head of NORAD.