![\"mcloflin2\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/mcloflin2-217x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nSo there was this Post Commander of American Legion Post 71 in Cabot, Arkansas by the name of Sammy Joseph McGloflin who told his story to a journalist at the Arkansas Leader<\/a> a few years back about his imprisonment in Vietnam;<\/p>\n While flying a night mission in 1972 the crew\u2019s helicopter came under fire. The pilot and co-pilot, close friends of McGloflin, were shot and killed. The helicopter crashed down near the Vietnam and Cambodia border. McGloflin and the door gunner survived the crash but were surrounded by North Vietnamese soldiers. They were blindfolded and their hands bound behind them.<\/p>\n McGloflin was a prisoner of war for 89 days at a camp near the Cambodian border. He recalled being put into a pen made of bamboo fencing with gaps large enough to stick a hand through. It was hot and they lost weight. The Vietnamese made fun of the POWs, poking them with sticks. McGloflin said over time they became friends with one of the prison guards and one day the guard left the gate unlocked. McGloflin and 15 other POWs made their escape to freedom. McGloflin, still in his flight suit, made the one-day walk to Cambodia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Cambodians treated us like royalty. They took us in, fed us and took care of all our needs physically. We got to take a shower. The Cambodian people helped us get to Thailand,\u201d he said. From there, they made it to a U.S. Army\/Air Force base in Bangkok. They were able to eat, gaining back their weight and strength.<\/p>\n McGloflin kept in touch with many of the former POWs over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe corresponded for several years. Many are now in bad health or deceased. The door gunner I had, a month ago his wife called me and said he\u2019d committed suicide,\u201d McGloflin said.<\/p>\n McGloflin has no lingering physical effects from his injuries, however he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n He has flashbacks about combat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He also told the reporter that he had been wounded “several times” and that his helicopter had been shot down seven times. He says that he spent three tours in Vietnam because he “liked combat”.<\/p>\n Yeah, well, as you might have guessed, it’s not completely true. he wasn’t a POW, according to the DoD DPMO<\/a> and from his FOIA, I guess he did two years in Vietnam, but there are no Purple Hearts for his wounds;<\/p>\n So, yeah, another fellow who had perfectly honorable service who couldn’t help but crap on the rest of us and demean our service, by making up stories when it really wasn’t at all necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n\u201cIt was very hard being a POW. The treatment was nothing like I\u2019ve been through before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nCrossing Cambodia into Thailand took two days riding in an ox-drawn cart.<\/p>\n![\"Sammy](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Sammy-McGloflin-FOIA-300x298.jpg\")
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