1
00:00:30,859 --> 00:00:33,203
- Come on in. Nice to see you.
- Yeah, good seeing you.

2
00:00:33,263 --> 00:00:37,258
Listen, take off your jacket and your
shirt and we'll see what it looks like.

3
00:00:37,318 --> 00:00:39,809
We can put it on your back or your
chest, wherever you want.

4
00:00:39,869 --> 00:00:43,229
Well, actually I... you know,
I couldn't have that on my body

5
00:00:43,289 --> 00:00:45,862
because I hate to tell you but
it was somewhat different.

6
00:00:45,922 --> 00:00:47,877
In fact, it was quite a big difference.

7
00:00:47,937 --> 00:00:51,059
You have to understand, I was just
crawling along, I had one day to live.

8
00:00:51,119 --> 00:00:53,717
I was on my knees and
I was hallucinating.

9
00:00:53,777 --> 00:00:56,535
And then, those enormous
doors opened up.

10
00:00:56,595 --> 00:01:00,108
Lots of horses kept galloping out and
there wasn't death, there was...

11
00:01:00,168 --> 00:01:02,444
driving those horses, it was the angels.

12
00:01:02,504 --> 00:01:06,707
And I had this vision. Death didn't
want me. Death didn't really want me.

13
00:01:44,657 --> 00:01:48,771
Men are often haunted by things
that happen to them in life,

14
00:01:48,831 --> 00:01:52,852
especially in war or other periods
of great intensity.

15
00:01:52,912 --> 00:01:57,972
Sometimes, you see these men walking
the streets or driving in a car.

16
00:01:58,032 --> 00:02:01,765
Their lives seem to be normal,
but they are not.

17
00:02:04,503 --> 00:02:09,007
When I'm driving my car I often hear
the voices of my dead friends.

18
00:02:09,277 --> 00:02:14,610
Sometimes, my friend Duane Martin calls
me and tells me that his feet are cold.

19
00:02:15,042 --> 00:02:20,714
Because of this, even on a warm sunny
day, I keep my convertible top up.

20
00:02:22,232 --> 00:02:27,802
I was shot down over Laos in 1966,
in the early phase of the Vietnam war.

21
00:02:28,949 --> 00:02:31,201
I never wanted to go to war.

22
00:02:31,261 --> 00:02:36,449
I only got into this because I had one
burning desire, and that was to fly.

23
00:02:48,714 --> 00:02:51,948
But that there were people
down there who suffered

24
00:02:52,008 --> 00:02:55,457
and who died only became
clear to me much later...

25
00:02:55,517 --> 00:02:57,654
when I was their prisoner.

26
00:03:53,220 --> 00:03:55,251
This is Dieter Dengler.

27
00:03:55,311 --> 00:03:59,958
He came to America 40 years ago,
and for the last 15 years

28
00:04:00,018 --> 00:04:04,207
he has lived on Mount Tamalpais,
north of San Francisco.

29
00:04:07,468 --> 00:04:09,940
Yeah, this is a lot of fun.

30
00:04:18,927 --> 00:04:21,262
You see, this really
seems strange to most

31
00:04:21,287 --> 00:04:23,404
people, but to me
it's very important.

32
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,596
It denotes freedom to be able
to open or close a door.

33
00:04:26,656 --> 00:04:31,147
When I was a prisoner, I couldn't open
the door, and later on when I was dying

34
00:04:31,207 --> 00:04:34,127
those big doors in the sky
would open up.

35
00:04:34,379 --> 00:04:37,884
And so... most people don't realize
how important it is, and

36
00:04:37,944 --> 00:04:41,236
the privilege that we have to be able
to open or close a door.

37
00:04:41,296 --> 00:04:45,734
So... anyway, that's a habit
I got into and... so be it!

38
00:04:47,859 --> 00:04:50,196
Well, this is the inside of my home.

39
00:04:50,256 --> 00:04:53,006
But you see, when you come into
my house right away

40
00:04:53,066 --> 00:04:55,461
there are pictures of open doors.

41
00:04:55,521 --> 00:05:00,164
That's been always very important to me
and... it gives me a sense of freedom.

42
00:05:00,224 --> 00:05:03,067
Walk into my house, when I built
this house 15 years ago

43
00:05:03,127 --> 00:05:05,351
I focused on having this open feeling.

44
00:05:05,411 --> 00:05:08,466
This was very important to me that
I am on top of the mountain,

45
00:05:08,526 --> 00:05:11,002
I needed to find some kind of canyon.

46
00:05:11,696 --> 00:05:15,404
Well, looking out here you see
a P-51 Must... Spitfire.

47
00:05:15,742 --> 00:05:18,840
Flying was always very important
to me as a child

48
00:05:18,900 --> 00:05:21,799
Got little motors in there,
don't know if they still work.

49
00:05:21,859 --> 00:05:23,898
I can climb up there and see.

50
00:05:26,971 --> 00:05:28,664
Yes, they do.

51
00:05:28,935 --> 00:05:32,507
Anyway, again, just standing
here you see that

52
00:05:32,761 --> 00:05:35,317
I do have an open feeling in
this house. There's a...

53
00:05:35,377 --> 00:05:37,492
large stove. I really enjoy to cook.

54
00:05:37,552 --> 00:05:40,980
Food is very, very, very important to
me. As you see, there's a lot of food.

55
00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,095
The refrigerator is always
packed full with food.

56
00:05:44,357 --> 00:05:49,046
The cupboard is full of food. In fact,
as I look in there it's half empty.

57
00:05:49,266 --> 00:05:51,484
Not only that, below the house

58
00:05:51,544 --> 00:05:54,599
I have emergency provisions that
I put in there years ago,

59
00:05:54,659 --> 00:05:58,946
that I'm kind of hoarding down there.
Well, I'm really curious myself now

60
00:05:59,006 --> 00:06:01,916
to see if everything is still in
good shape down here.

61
00:06:03,576 --> 00:06:05,997
Tear up this carpet here.

62
00:06:08,176 --> 00:06:09,683
And those...

63
00:06:09,743 --> 00:06:12,155
those five gallon containers.

64
00:06:12,443 --> 00:06:16,286
Yeah, everything seems to be...
still in good shape down here.

65
00:06:18,578 --> 00:06:21,355
There is a 1000 pounds of rice.

66
00:06:22,166 --> 00:06:25,133
There is a 1,200 pounds of
flour and wheat.

67
00:06:25,307 --> 00:06:27,610
There's 300 pounds of honey.

68
00:06:28,233 --> 00:06:32,046
There's sugar down there.
I tell you, I'll probably never need...

69
00:06:32,215 --> 00:06:36,779
any of this food, but I can sleep so much
better knowing that it's down there.

70
00:06:38,930 --> 00:06:40,908
Well, while I was in prison...

71
00:06:40,968 --> 00:06:42,926
all we did talk about was food.

72
00:06:42,986 --> 00:06:44,836
We talked about deep freezers,

73
00:06:44,896 --> 00:06:48,095
and... refrigerators, stacking 'em up and

74
00:06:48,155 --> 00:06:51,238
I decided I'm coming back home and
I'm gonna build a restaurant.

75
00:06:51,298 --> 00:06:55,516
A German type restaurant and I'm gonna
stack it up and never be hungry again.

76
00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,629
This is my mother.

77
00:06:59,336 --> 00:07:03,630
She arrived in America after I had
gained about 30 or 40 pounds.

78
00:07:03,982 --> 00:07:06,217
I was in San Diego, in a hospital.

79
00:07:06,447 --> 00:07:07,612
She...

80
00:07:07,977 --> 00:07:11,377
came on an airplane with...
boxes full of apples...

81
00:07:11,437 --> 00:07:14,599
that she was passing around to all
the passengers around her.

82
00:07:14,659 --> 00:07:16,238
She turned the meal down,

83
00:07:16,298 --> 00:07:19,434
in the airplanes, because she thought
it cost her a lot of money.

84
00:07:19,494 --> 00:07:21,762
And, she was truly starved.

85
00:07:26,340 --> 00:07:28,182
This is my father.

86
00:07:28,242 --> 00:07:32,108
I only know my father from pictures.
He was killed in the war.

87
00:07:32,662 --> 00:07:36,265
I miss not having a father.
It was just then later on...

88
00:07:36,325 --> 00:07:41,096
when I was in Vietnam and my friend
Duane's head was... cut off

89
00:07:41,156 --> 00:07:44,715
and the Vietcongs were all around me,
there was just shooting and yelling,

90
00:07:44,775 --> 00:07:47,978
and... yeah, I was just running
along down this trail.

91
00:07:48,038 --> 00:07:50,294
And then I came to this
river fork and...

92
00:07:50,354 --> 00:07:54,317
Here was my father, clear as a picture
in the middle of the river standing

93
00:07:54,377 --> 00:07:57,471
and pointing with his arm,
and just pointing and pointing...

94
00:07:57,531 --> 00:07:59,663
for me, for the direction to go.

95
00:07:59,723 --> 00:08:02,832
And I went behind the rocks and
I worked my way up that riverbed.

96
00:08:02,892 --> 00:08:06,421
I heard the Vietcongs come by up the
other side. They went up the other side,

97
00:08:06,481 --> 00:08:10,945
And then later on, about five days later,
I was rescued going up this other side.

98
00:08:11,005 --> 00:08:12,102
So...

99
00:08:12,282 --> 00:08:14,394
That was truly a miracle.

100
00:08:29,103 --> 00:08:32,381
Below me, you see my home town, Wildberg.

101
00:08:32,441 --> 00:08:35,963
I was born there. My childhood
years were... spent right here.

102
00:08:36,023 --> 00:08:39,457
Down here you see the church and a few
houses to the left, with my house.

103
00:08:39,517 --> 00:08:42,226
It's not there anymore,
the bombers came and...

104
00:08:42,286 --> 00:08:43,930
and wiped out this town.

105
00:08:43,990 --> 00:08:45,279
The first airplane...

106
00:08:45,339 --> 00:08:48,448
The first airplanes that I ever saw in
my life, they came right over here.

107
00:08:48,508 --> 00:08:51,894
They were fighters. They were...
they dove down onto this small town.

108
00:08:51,954 --> 00:08:55,659
They mad senseless attacks on this
small village just like this.

109
00:08:59,998 --> 00:09:03,777
In behind me... up there.
That's kind of how it looked.

110
00:09:03,837 --> 00:09:07,867
I had two brothers then and we were out
on the top window, and we looked out.

111
00:09:07,927 --> 00:09:11,793
And we watched all this, and I clearly
remember one of the airplanes...

112
00:09:12,319 --> 00:09:16,761
came diving at our house, and it was so
unusual because the cockpit was open.

113
00:09:16,821 --> 00:09:20,541
The pilot had black goggles that were
sitting on his forehead. He was looking.

114
00:09:20,601 --> 00:09:23,628
He had actually turned around!
He was looking in the window.

115
00:09:23,688 --> 00:09:27,425
And the machine guns were just firing,
because the... the flashes...

116
00:09:27,485 --> 00:09:29,475
I kept seeing them coming out.

117
00:09:29,535 --> 00:09:31,603
And the left wing tip
just missed the house

118
00:09:31,628 --> 00:09:33,436
by two or three feet.
I seen it rip by!

119
00:09:33,472 --> 00:09:37,107
It was just a fraction of a second.
It was like a... vision for me!

120
00:09:37,167 --> 00:09:40,356
It was like an almighty being...
that came out.

121
00:09:40,416 --> 00:09:43,471
It's just something else that's very
difficult to describe.

122
00:09:43,531 --> 00:09:45,555
But I knew from that
moment on that I wanted

123
00:09:45,580 --> 00:09:47,289
to be a pilot. I wanted to be a flier.

124
00:09:47,325 --> 00:09:50,217
From that moment on little
Dieter needed to fly.

125
00:10:25,992 --> 00:10:28,742
I have a few medals that I received.

126
00:10:29,310 --> 00:10:31,694
That's an American Fighter Ace medal.

127
00:10:32,262 --> 00:10:35,269
Right over here is the
Purple Heart, Air Medal...

128
00:10:35,567 --> 00:10:39,088
Distinguished Flying Cross,
and the Navy Cross.

129
00:10:40,921 --> 00:10:44,321
Up here in the corner, this sword
is called the Sword of Loyola.

130
00:10:44,381 --> 00:10:47,693
It was blessed by the Pope, it's
brought over here by a bishop.

131
00:10:47,753 --> 00:10:50,083
Just two in existence.
J. Edgar Hoover got

132
00:10:50,108 --> 00:10:52,383
one and I was lucky
to get the other one.

133
00:10:55,378 --> 00:10:58,399
What does it mean for you
to be a war hero?

134
00:10:58,751 --> 00:11:02,692
Oh, I'm not a hero.
Only people who are dead who are heroes.

135
00:11:02,752 --> 00:11:06,552
And that's not a thing I want to be, and
I don't think of myself as a hero.

136
00:11:06,612 --> 00:11:08,771
No, only dead people are heroes.

137
00:11:09,343 --> 00:11:11,334
If I start over here...

138
00:11:11,394 --> 00:11:14,598
This picture was sent to me
recently by a friend.

139
00:11:15,099 --> 00:11:18,081
This is the last shot of my
airplane after I took...

140
00:11:18,106 --> 00:11:19,736
when I took off for Vietnam.

141
00:11:21,527 --> 00:11:25,522
And this is how the airplane
looked two hours later.

142
00:11:28,795 --> 00:11:33,360
And this is Dieter Dengler, six
months later, after his rescue.

143
00:11:33,536 --> 00:11:36,272
He was down to 85 pounds.

144
00:11:41,988 --> 00:11:44,128
I knew hunger as a child.

145
00:11:45,225 --> 00:11:47,392
I grew up in post-war Germany.

146
00:11:47,452 --> 00:11:50,630
We lived in great poverty and
I remember as children

147
00:11:50,690 --> 00:11:54,268
going to bombed out buildings,
where we tore off wallpaper.

148
00:11:54,811 --> 00:11:57,885
My mother would cook the wallpaper
and we would eat it...

149
00:11:57,945 --> 00:12:00,594
because there were nutrients
in the glue.

150
00:12:16,869 --> 00:12:20,147
As a child, Dieter saw things around him

151
00:12:20,207 --> 00:12:23,438
that just made no earthly sense at all.

152
00:12:30,690 --> 00:12:35,254
Germany had been transformed into
a dreamscape of the surreal.

153
00:12:50,859 --> 00:12:53,391
And then, things got better.

154
00:12:53,811 --> 00:12:57,495
Dieter remembers the first sausage
in a display window.

155
00:12:57,555 --> 00:13:02,218
It was the first one in years,
and he stopped and stared at it.

156
00:13:04,019 --> 00:13:08,695
Everyone else stopped too,
but nobody could afford to buy it.

157
00:13:28,516 --> 00:13:31,862
In post-war Germany,
there was no aviation.

158
00:13:31,922 --> 00:13:35,813
And therefore, it remained Dieter's
dream to become a pilot.

159
00:13:36,774 --> 00:13:39,320
This is a very, very, very old...

160
00:13:39,537 --> 00:13:40,932
rare clock.

161
00:13:43,740 --> 00:13:47,925
From age 14, Dengler apprenticed
as a tool and dye maker.

162
00:13:48,250 --> 00:13:51,027
He learned how to build church clocks.

163
00:13:59,699 --> 00:14:02,744
Not only did I learn to be a...
church clock builder,

164
00:14:02,769 --> 00:14:04,460
I learned to be a blacksmith.

165
00:14:07,297 --> 00:14:11,192
God! What a tough apprenticeship I had!
How many hours did I stand right here?

166
00:14:11,252 --> 00:14:14,028
How many times did I have that
hammer on my side?

167
00:14:14,088 --> 00:14:16,665
I had this boss who was... an old man.

168
00:14:16,725 --> 00:14:19,712
He was a blacksmith, he had hands
like that. Many times...

169
00:14:19,772 --> 00:14:22,435
he would come up and hit me in the face.
I would be just...

170
00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:23,524
I would be passing out.

171
00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:26,866
We worked from seven in the
morning till late at night.

172
00:14:27,085 --> 00:14:29,956
Including weekends.
We made 50 cents a month.

173
00:14:30,185 --> 00:14:32,988
It was truly horrible,
but we stuck with it.

174
00:14:33,178 --> 00:14:35,182
And then, later on in Vietnam...

175
00:14:35,242 --> 00:14:38,445
That's the first time I recognized it.
What it meant really to me

176
00:14:38,505 --> 00:14:41,028
and without this tough, tough, tough man

177
00:14:41,088 --> 00:14:44,766
that beat us many, many times;
I could have never made it.

178
00:14:46,461 --> 00:14:49,521
He finished his apprenticeship
at age 18.

179
00:14:49,581 --> 00:14:54,418
Thirty minutes after his final exam
Dieter was already en route to America,

180
00:14:54,478 --> 00:14:57,729
because his dream of being a
pilot had never died.

181
00:14:57,789 --> 00:15:00,586
This photo was taken the moment he left.

182
00:15:01,402 --> 00:15:05,737
I left from right down here for America.
I had 30 cents in my pocket...

183
00:15:06,116 --> 00:15:08,594
I was two hours out of town,
I was hungry.

184
00:15:08,906 --> 00:15:12,336
I had two weeks to wait for my ship
to leave and I hitchhiked...

185
00:15:12,396 --> 00:15:15,614
via Hamburg, to Bremerhaven
where the boat left.

186
00:15:15,791 --> 00:15:18,568
I was climbing up the ladder,
I got seasick right away.

187
00:15:18,628 --> 00:15:23,512
In the back of the ship they were playing
a German national song:

188
00:15:23,572 --> 00:15:25,543
Tears were rolling down my eyes.

189
00:15:26,110 --> 00:15:30,498
I stepped on the ship and got seasick.
I was violently sick for 2 1/2 weeks.

190
00:15:30,558 --> 00:15:33,450
But, I managed to go up in the
kitchen or living room...

191
00:15:33,510 --> 00:15:35,658
Not the living room, but where
people were eating,

192
00:15:35,718 --> 00:15:39,503
and there I got sandwiches and I got
oranges. And I hoarded it all in my room.

193
00:15:39,563 --> 00:15:41,914
And then, early in the morning
there was an announcement that the

194
00:15:41,974 --> 00:15:45,087
Statue of Liberty was going to
come in sight. I went in my room.

195
00:15:45,147 --> 00:15:47,188
I took this large shirt
from my grandfather.

196
00:15:47,213 --> 00:15:48,800
tied it with string below my knees

197
00:15:48,836 --> 00:15:51,716
and filled it up with sandwiches,
with oranges, all this food.

198
00:15:51,776 --> 00:15:54,507
And I thought, we're just going
to arrive, I'll walk off the ship.

199
00:15:54,567 --> 00:15:57,296
But we had to go through customs.
Well, I never heard of customs.

200
00:15:57,356 --> 00:16:00,600
I was this little 18 year old boy,
I never was out of my hometown.

201
00:16:00,660 --> 00:16:04,840
One time for one day we went to a castle
somewhere. We were extremely poor.

202
00:16:05,287 --> 00:16:07,440
So, anyway I went through customs.

203
00:16:07,866 --> 00:16:10,738
A lot of people were lined up.
This customs agent came over.

204
00:16:10,798 --> 00:16:13,067
The first thing, he grabbed my shirt.
Pulled my shirt up

205
00:16:13,127 --> 00:16:16,345
and all the sandwiches and all those
oranges fell on the floor.

206
00:16:16,405 --> 00:16:19,997
I got beet red because when I left my
hometown people were laughing, they said:

207
00:16:20,057 --> 00:16:24,610
"He's going to America. Money's gonna...
He thinks money grows on the trees!"

208
00:16:24,670 --> 00:16:27,589
They thought I'm gonna end up
in jail, and now I knew...

209
00:16:27,649 --> 00:16:30,365
hey were right, I'm gonna
end up in jail.

210
00:16:36,547 --> 00:16:40,516
I didn't speak any English, I knew a few
words. Timmy Square... Times Square.

211
00:16:40,576 --> 00:16:43,892
The highest house, two-story
houses that I saw in Germany.

212
00:16:43,952 --> 00:16:45,734
Here, I'm in New York. Manhattan.

213
00:16:45,794 --> 00:16:47,901
Walking around it was just a
whole new world for me.

214
00:16:47,961 --> 00:16:50,176
But again, of course I was
extremely hungry.

215
00:16:50,236 --> 00:16:53,544
So, I lived in the streets for about ten
days and I met a couple people.

216
00:16:53,604 --> 00:16:55,914
And then finally,
I joined the Air Force.

217
00:16:55,974 --> 00:16:58,585
Because I really left Germany
to become a pilot.

218
00:16:58,645 --> 00:17:01,791
And I couldn't do it in Germany,
Germany didn't have an Air Force.

219
00:17:01,851 --> 00:17:04,652
They didn't have an airline, they
had no schooling whatsoever.

220
00:17:04,712 --> 00:17:08,741
We had to work to help our parents
just to survive and to live.

221
00:17:09,133 --> 00:17:11,836
And so, I went to the recruiter
in New Jersey and he said:

222
00:17:11,896 --> 00:17:14,348
"Of course! If you join the Air Force
you're going to be a pilot."

223
00:17:14,408 --> 00:17:18,206
I signed up, two hours later I was in
San Antonio, Texas. They cut my hair off.

224
00:17:18,266 --> 00:17:21,009
But instead of becoming a pilot
they put me in the kitchen.

225
00:17:21,069 --> 00:17:24,052
There were 5000 recruits there.
7000 recruits!

226
00:17:24,112 --> 00:17:26,653
I peeled potatoes for 2 1/2 years.

227
00:17:26,713 --> 00:17:28,924
And then finally, I was put
in the motor pool.

228
00:17:28,984 --> 00:17:31,579
I changed tires but I never
got near an airplane.

229
00:17:31,639 --> 00:17:34,125
I went to night school.
I became a citizen.

230
00:17:34,185 --> 00:17:37,408
And then, I left for California because
I knew by then what I had to do.

231
00:17:37,468 --> 00:17:40,605
I had to go to college, get a college
degree to join the Navy.

232
00:17:40,665 --> 00:17:43,620
And that's what I did. I bought
a car, an old VW Bus.

233
00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,332
There was a big hole in the side.
I parked in the parking lot.

234
00:17:46,392 --> 00:17:48,458
I had my surfboard in there,
my skis in there.

235
00:17:48,518 --> 00:17:52,372
That's where I lived for 2 1/2 years.
Worked at night, went to chool.

236
00:17:52,432 --> 00:17:56,054
And after that I joined the Navy.
And then, I was based in Alameda.

237
00:17:56,114 --> 00:17:59,156
And from there we left on the
aircraft carrier for Vietnam.

238
00:18:00,794 --> 00:18:04,424
But from the air, Vietnam
didn't seem real at all.

239
00:18:04,627 --> 00:18:07,241
For Dengler it was like
a grid on a map.

240
00:18:07,443 --> 00:18:10,585
He had suddenly found himself
not only a pilot,

241
00:18:10,645 --> 00:18:13,402
but a soldier caught up in a real war.

242
00:18:13,590 --> 00:18:15,974
But even though it was all very real,

243
00:18:16,034 --> 00:18:20,700
everything down there seemed to be
so alien and so abstract.

244
00:18:28,890 --> 00:18:33,536
It all looked strange, like a
distant, barbaric dream.

245
00:20:42,540 --> 00:20:45,303
Also, I... I flew the Skyraider...

246
00:20:45,777 --> 00:20:48,229
over Vietnam, I had just
left the carrier.

247
00:20:48,289 --> 00:20:50,961
I had flown 2 1/2 hours
through heavy flak.

248
00:20:51,021 --> 00:20:52,979
I was coming near my target.

249
00:20:53,039 --> 00:20:56,568
And I clearly remember my target was
disappearing right at the wing root,

250
00:20:56,628 --> 00:21:00,773
where the wing meets the body. And
I rolled the airplane on its back

251
00:21:00,963 --> 00:21:03,047
And then, of course
I would see the target

252
00:21:03,072 --> 00:21:05,009
above me and I was
coming straight down

253
00:21:05,045 --> 00:21:08,885
and just when I was inverted there was
this loud explosion off the right side,

254
00:21:08,945 --> 00:21:12,242
half my wing was gone.
And I remember the brightness of it

255
00:21:12,302 --> 00:21:14,233
was just like a lightning striking.

256
00:21:14,293 --> 00:21:17,294
The airplane then tumbled
through the air.

257
00:21:17,354 --> 00:21:19,948
I reached down and I dropped my tanks,

258
00:21:20,008 --> 00:21:23,021
and I thought I'll belly the airplane
down in this valley.

259
00:21:23,081 --> 00:21:27,382
But then, more explosions went off,
off my right wing.

260
00:21:27,442 --> 00:21:29,115
Boom! Boom! Boom!

261
00:21:29,175 --> 00:21:32,785
The brightness is really what I remember.
I decided, maybe I can...

262
00:21:32,845 --> 00:21:35,547
fly the airplane and glide it
right over this ridge.

263
00:21:35,607 --> 00:21:38,838
There was a ridge on the right hand side.
There was a lot of trees, as I said.

264
00:21:38,898 --> 00:21:41,737
There was a... an enormous
tree in front of me

265
00:21:41,797 --> 00:21:43,996
and just before I hit it I
kicked full right rudder.

266
00:21:44,021 --> 00:21:45,389
The airplane yawed
to the right.

267
00:21:45,425 --> 00:21:48,154
There was an impact on the left wing.
It snapped this...

268
00:21:48,214 --> 00:21:52,285
this, this thick tree off and of course
then the left wing went back.

269
00:21:52,345 --> 00:21:55,385
Then the entire tail:
the rudder, hose, stabilizer...

270
00:21:55,445 --> 00:21:57,552
Everything just tumbled by.

271
00:21:57,612 --> 00:22:01,291
I clearly the canopy started cracking,
the lower left hand corner.

272
00:22:01,351 --> 00:22:04,459
Just like slow motion. It was
cracked and it ripped off.

273
00:22:04,519 --> 00:22:06,720
Then my helmet just
jerked off my head.

274
00:22:06,745 --> 00:22:09,165
And then the airplane
started to cartwheel.

275
00:22:15,278 --> 00:22:19,233
Then I must have passed out because
maybe a minute later I came back.

276
00:22:19,293 --> 00:22:24,010
I was laying 100 feet from the airplane.
Dust was still in the... in the air.

277
00:22:24,070 --> 00:22:27,680
It was very, very quiet. Of course,
I crawled out real quickly and then I...

278
00:22:27,740 --> 00:22:30,662
ran towards the jungle to get away.

279
00:22:44,540 --> 00:22:47,370
You know, many times people
ask me if I was afraid,

280
00:22:47,430 --> 00:22:50,160
if there was fear when I was shot down.

281
00:22:50,675 --> 00:22:52,557
There really is no time.

282
00:22:52,617 --> 00:22:54,846
I had to unstrap. I had to
drop my fuel tanks.

283
00:22:54,906 --> 00:22:57,812
I had to find... I had to put the
airplane in a small clearing.

284
00:22:57,872 --> 00:23:00,493
It was extremely difficult
to fly this airplane.

285
00:23:00,791 --> 00:23:02,691
There was no time to have fear.

286
00:23:02,751 --> 00:23:05,264
And then later on it's just like
on an aircraft carrier.

287
00:23:05,324 --> 00:23:08,555
3:00 in the morning, you're flying
through this monsoon rain.

288
00:23:08,615 --> 00:23:10,771
It's really not a rain,
it's a waterfall that you're

289
00:23:10,831 --> 00:23:13,271
shooting through at 80
feet over the water,

290
00:23:13,296 --> 00:23:15,791
200 mph trying to find
the aircraft carrier.

291
00:23:15,827 --> 00:23:20,047
You have only contact through your
headset with the operator on the ship.

292
00:23:20,107 --> 00:23:21,847
It's total darkness.

293
00:23:22,213 --> 00:23:24,560
Then, finally there's this enormous bang

294
00:23:24,620 --> 00:23:27,593
as you hit the back of the aircraft
carrier on your landing.

295
00:23:27,653 --> 00:23:31,462
Then, as you pull over to the side...
as I turned my engine off...

296
00:23:31,522 --> 00:23:34,058
The engine would spin down.
It would go:

297
00:23:34,519 --> 00:23:36,410
Spin down. Then, my legs...
that's the time

298
00:23:36,435 --> 00:23:38,240
when my legs start shaking.
They would...

299
00:23:38,276 --> 00:23:41,671
Shake and shake and shake, and I'm trying
to hold them, I couldn't even hold them.

300
00:23:41,731 --> 00:23:43,890
I would some time have
to sit in cockpit

301
00:23:43,915 --> 00:23:46,178
for five minutes before
I could crawl out.

302
00:23:46,214 --> 00:23:47,888
And ironically...

303
00:23:48,077 --> 00:23:51,152
later on, just before dying,
there is no more fear.

304
00:23:51,212 --> 00:23:56,162
It's like a dream. It's just like
floating along in a real thick medium.

305
00:23:56,377 --> 00:23:59,154
I used to pinch myself,
there was no more pain.

306
00:23:59,214 --> 00:24:02,079
And I thought:
"Is this real? Is this unreal?"

307
00:24:02,139 --> 00:24:03,768
This. This is...

308
00:24:03,828 --> 00:24:06,747
This is basically what death
looks like to me.

309
00:24:42,310 --> 00:24:45,168
Two days after I was shot down,
I was captured.

310
00:24:45,505 --> 00:24:48,485
I did the unforgivable,
I crossed a small clearing.

311
00:24:48,545 --> 00:24:50,666
I came out of the thick jungle...

312
00:24:50,854 --> 00:24:53,874
I came to a small trail. I looked to
the left, I looked to the right.

313
00:24:53,934 --> 00:24:56,000
There was no one there.
I went to run across.

314
00:24:56,025 --> 00:24:57,596
I was at about ten
yards out of it

315
00:24:57,632 --> 00:25:00,225
and someone yelled:
I turned to the right.

316
00:25:00,285 --> 00:25:02,005
There's a guy standing
there with a pistol,

317
00:25:02,030 --> 00:25:03,789
another guy was standing
there with a rifle.

318
00:25:03,820 --> 00:25:07,213
My hands shot in the air. I yelled in
German: "Nicht schießen! Nicht schießen!"

319
00:25:07,273 --> 00:25:09,502
Right away I was surrounded
by six other guys.

320
00:25:09,562 --> 00:25:11,588
They stripped of my clothes,
I was searched.

321
00:25:11,648 --> 00:25:14,106
They took everything away.
They bandaged my left leg

322
00:25:14,166 --> 00:25:16,611
with bamboo because I hurt
that in the crash.

323
00:25:16,671 --> 00:25:19,252
And then we started to run.
We ran and ran.

324
00:25:19,312 --> 00:25:20,791
Every so often I
would collapse.

325
00:25:20,816 --> 00:25:22,986
They would massage my leg.
They would give me...

326
00:25:23,022 --> 00:25:24,854
some water. And then
later in the evening

327
00:25:24,879 --> 00:25:26,710
with a rifle underneath
a cluster of trees

328
00:25:26,746 --> 00:25:28,780
so the airplanes
couldn't see us.

329
00:25:28,805 --> 00:25:31,532
Normally... they took
four pegs in the ground

330
00:25:31,567 --> 00:25:34,648
I would have to lay on the ground.
They would tie my ankles to the pegs and

331
00:25:34,708 --> 00:25:37,073
they would tie my hands to the pegs.

332
00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:59,822
In his dreams, Dengler would
walk through an airport.

333
00:25:59,998 --> 00:26:03,601
He was going to fly back home
to the Black Forest.

334
00:26:04,018 --> 00:26:07,648
But all the planes had been
smashed to pieces.

335
00:26:10,248 --> 00:26:13,692
Yet, he knew that the pieces
would start to move,

336
00:26:13,752 --> 00:26:17,497
and to reassemble themselves
again into real planes.

337
00:26:17,557 --> 00:26:20,907
As a broken coffee cup in the
film 'Play it Backwards'

338
00:26:20,967 --> 00:26:24,563
puts itself together and leaps
back up on the table.

339
00:26:27,976 --> 00:26:30,590
I was sure that my flight
would be on time.

340
00:26:30,650 --> 00:26:34,972
But then, the pieces of the plane didn't
jump back together, as I had expected.

341
00:26:35,032 --> 00:26:37,344
And I grew more and more horrified.

342
00:26:37,404 --> 00:26:41,990
And I was glad when I finally woke up
and found myself bitten by mosquitoes.

343
00:26:42,964 --> 00:26:45,862
In the mornings I'd wake up and a lot
of times I couldn't even see

344
00:26:45,922 --> 00:26:51,049
because the mosquitoes had eaten, had
stung and my face was all swollen up.

345
00:26:51,535 --> 00:26:54,555
Then we just walked, for days
and days like that.

346
00:26:54,615 --> 00:26:58,301
There were a lot of airplanes in the air.
They were looking for me, my buddies.

347
00:26:58,361 --> 00:26:59,928
And I need to make a signal.

348
00:26:59,953 --> 00:27:03,029
I need to have some kind of
device to signal to them.

349
00:27:03,065 --> 00:27:07,190
And luckily at one time I spotted
a small survival mirror

350
00:27:07,250 --> 00:27:10,047
in the tobacco pouch of
one of my guards.

351
00:27:10,107 --> 00:27:14,245
I hung around these guards all the time,
because sometimes we would walk...

352
00:27:14,305 --> 00:27:18,092
late in the evening. It was total dark.
My hands were tied.

353
00:27:18,442 --> 00:27:20,270
A guard would be in front of me.

354
00:27:20,330 --> 00:27:22,654
My hands would be tied,
they would go over his shoulder.

355
00:27:22,714 --> 00:27:26,066
Here, I had the right guard in front of
me and very carefully, ever so carefully,

356
00:27:26,126 --> 00:27:28,111
I opened his pocket and
I took this box out...

357
00:27:28,171 --> 00:27:31,592
Dengler succeeded in stealing the mirror,
and for the first time

358
00:27:31,652 --> 00:27:33,556
he spent the night in a hut.

359
00:27:33,616 --> 00:27:36,370
My legs and my ankles would be
tied together with a rope.

360
00:27:36,430 --> 00:27:38,824
The rope would go down, there would
be a peg in the ground.

361
00:27:38,884 --> 00:27:41,317
That's where I would be tied up.
They would feed me up here.

362
00:27:41,377 --> 00:27:45,549
Then when the sleeping time came I would
lay down. A guard would be on my right

363
00:27:45,609 --> 00:27:48,515
A guard would be on my left.
There would be rifles there.

364
00:27:48,575 --> 00:27:51,754
And that night I woke about
11:00-12:00 in the morning

365
00:27:51,814 --> 00:27:55,381
because it was bitter, bitter cold.
They were snoring so loud. I got up.

366
00:27:55,648 --> 00:27:58,270
I knew that it was the right time.
I kicked my...

367
00:27:58,330 --> 00:28:01,250
legs up two or three times really hard.
The peg gave way.

368
00:28:01,310 --> 00:28:04,214
I came up, I untied my legs slowly.
I came forward to the edge and

369
00:28:04,274 --> 00:28:07,205
very carefully I let myself
down to the edge.

370
00:28:07,265 --> 00:28:10,766
Just when I hit the bottom, the pigs and
the dogs and the chickens ran off.

371
00:28:10,826 --> 00:28:13,753
There was a hell of a racket. I quickly
went back up. I laid down again.

372
00:28:13,813 --> 00:28:15,137
I didn't move.

373
00:28:15,197 --> 00:28:18,520
They kept on snoring, nobody noticed.
I tried it one more time...

374
00:28:18,580 --> 00:28:21,289
and then I was free.
I was in the jungle...

375
00:28:21,349 --> 00:28:24,999
but I couldn't move because it was so
thick. But my target was a mountain.

376
00:28:25,059 --> 00:28:28,059
A coarse mountain just like that.
And that's what I was heading for.

377
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:32,434
I'd seen that in the moonlight, but I
didn't realize it was a coarse mountain.

378
00:28:32,494 --> 00:28:35,994
There was crevices after crevice.
There was very, very sharp rock.

379
00:28:36,054 --> 00:28:38,472
It was very, very difficult to
go up to this rock.

380
00:28:38,532 --> 00:28:41,231
I finally got on top, there was
no vegetation on top.

381
00:28:41,291 --> 00:28:43,899
That day nothing came.
They had stopped looking for me.

382
00:28:43,959 --> 00:28:45,007
Not a single airplane.

383
00:28:45,032 --> 00:28:47,983
The only thing that really came
was the sun. And it got hot.

384
00:28:48,019 --> 00:28:51,418
I didn't count on that because I was for
the last two weeks in the jungle.

385
00:28:51,478 --> 00:28:55,603
It was cool down there, and I was
already getting delirious and I was...

386
00:28:56,415 --> 00:28:59,841
I saw all those... It was just terrible
up there. And finally...

387
00:28:59,901 --> 00:29:04,255
I decided to work my way down from this
hill towards a waterhole. I had saw...

388
00:29:04,315 --> 00:29:07,980
seen a stinking waterhole at the bottom
of this hill and that was my target,

389
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,731
because I knew water was the only
thing that would make me survive.

390
00:29:16,352 --> 00:29:18,858
His guards knew where to find him.

391
00:29:18,918 --> 00:29:23,950
The moment he started to drink the
putrid water, they were all over him.

392
00:29:24,838 --> 00:29:27,492
From then on, the torture began.

393
00:29:28,224 --> 00:29:32,314
They would hang him upside down
and put an ant nest over his face

394
00:29:32,374 --> 00:29:34,467
until he lost consciousness.

395
00:29:37,029 --> 00:29:41,593
For several nights, they suspended
him into a well shaft, in such a way

396
00:29:41,653 --> 00:29:44,979
that he almost died a slow
death from drowning.

397
00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:49,755
But he was worth more to them alive.
He was their prized possession.

398
00:29:51,339 --> 00:29:54,386
And all of a sudden we came out of
the jungle into an open area.

399
00:29:54,446 --> 00:29:58,326
A real red-dusted area, there were
about 30 guards standing there.

400
00:29:58,386 --> 00:30:01,548
They had formed a circle. I was dragged
into the center of the circle

401
00:30:01,608 --> 00:30:04,149
and two North Vietnamese guys
were standing there.

402
00:30:04,209 --> 00:30:06,492
They hard their caps on,
the red stars on it.

403
00:30:06,552 --> 00:30:09,874
They had khaki uniforms on. They
started yelling and screaming...

404
00:30:09,934 --> 00:30:11,540
and start kicking me

405
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,652
And all of a sudden one of the guards

406
00:30:13,712 --> 00:30:17,054
came across the circle, walked towards
me. He had his rifle in his hand.

407
00:30:17,114 --> 00:30:20,127
The butt first. And he came towards me,
he hesitated a couple of times.

408
00:30:20,187 --> 00:30:22,226
He swung towards me. I moved my head.

409
00:30:22,286 --> 00:30:26,073
He hit me in the shoulder, knocked me
down on my back. The gun went off.

410
00:30:26,133 --> 00:30:28,371
And I clearly remember
looking across,

411
00:30:28,396 --> 00:30:30,863
another one of the
guards closed his eyes,

412
00:30:30,899 --> 00:30:34,685
fell backwards over. He had no shirt on,
he had just a loincloth on.

413
00:30:34,745 --> 00:30:37,664
I saw the blood coming out
just above his kidneys.

414
00:30:37,724 --> 00:30:39,749
His buddy saw that,
he took his gun,

415
00:30:39,774 --> 00:30:42,400
started shooting at this
guy who shot this guy.

416
00:30:42,436 --> 00:30:45,099
I'm laying on the ground.
All of a sudden bullets are flying.

417
00:30:45,159 --> 00:30:47,644
There's screaming and yelling.
They had forgotten about me.

418
00:30:47,704 --> 00:30:50,447
I thought it was the end of me.
I closed my eyes. I waited for...

419
00:30:50,507 --> 00:30:52,425
I waited to be shot myself.

420
00:30:52,485 --> 00:30:54,190
I closed my eyes.
I looked over.

421
00:30:54,215 --> 00:30:57,107
I saw someone wrap a loincloth
around this guy's waist.

422
00:30:57,143 --> 00:31:00,374
You know, it was natural for them
to be really angry at me now.

423
00:31:00,434 --> 00:31:04,328
I had escaped from them, they had lost
face, and they really wanted to get even.

424
00:31:05,043 --> 00:31:08,524
Whenever we were near the village, that's
when they really became aggressive.

425
00:31:08,584 --> 00:31:11,923
They had this new idea. My legs were
tied up, my arms were tied up,

426
00:31:11,983 --> 00:31:15,079
my hands were tied up. I was tied
behind a water buffalo.

427
00:31:15,579 --> 00:31:18,505
They'd hit the water buffalo with
a stick. He'd start taking off.

428
00:31:18,565 --> 00:31:20,806
I was hoping behind it.
I was trying to keep

429
00:31:20,831 --> 00:31:22,822
my balance but pretty
soon I fell over.

430
00:31:23,230 --> 00:31:24,887
A couple, two or
three of the guards,

431
00:31:24,912 --> 00:31:27,005
the bad ones kept walking
to the right and left

432
00:31:27,041 --> 00:31:29,527
They were kicking me in the face
with the dust all the time.

433
00:31:29,587 --> 00:31:33,671
They were kicking me-other guys would
jump to my back. The kids were laughing.

434
00:31:33,731 --> 00:31:36,149
They thought it was just a lot of fun.

435
00:31:36,209 --> 00:31:38,559
Later on, they wanted me
to sign something

436
00:31:38,619 --> 00:31:40,969
condemning the American
aggression in Vietnam.

437
00:31:41,029 --> 00:31:43,367
I didn't sign it.
I didn't believe in it.

438
00:31:43,705 --> 00:31:46,766
They came up with this idea.
They stuck small, little...

439
00:31:46,826 --> 00:31:50,774
pieces of bamboo underneath my
fingernails. They cut my arms.

440
00:31:51,843 --> 00:31:53,726
They put pieces of bamboo,

441
00:31:53,786 --> 00:31:57,084
actually they stuck it in there and they
left a piece of bamboo in there.

442
00:31:57,144 --> 00:31:59,373
They cut here. They cut here.

443
00:31:59,996 --> 00:32:01,473
They cut here.

444
00:32:01,533 --> 00:32:04,221
At various different places.
Then one guy had this idea,

445
00:32:04,281 --> 00:32:06,740
they'd put this rope around
my upper arm.

446
00:32:07,294 --> 00:32:10,756
Like a tourniquet, they put a piece of
wood in there twisted and twisted it,

447
00:32:10,816 --> 00:32:13,172
until the nerves were cutting
against the bone.

448
00:32:13,232 --> 00:32:17,343
My hand would drop, and this hand was
completely unusable for six months.

449
00:32:17,941 --> 00:32:20,907
They were just always thinking
of something to do to me.

450
00:32:24,794 --> 00:32:28,031
It's Christmas time in my home
town in Germany.

451
00:32:28,649 --> 00:32:31,196
It's beautiful, all the decorations...

452
00:32:31,466 --> 00:32:33,566
It's like a Christmas calendar.

453
00:32:34,595 --> 00:32:38,683
But many, many years before, during the
Nazi time, it was a different story.

454
00:32:38,886 --> 00:32:42,313
In fact, in this town, 100% of the
people voted for Hitler.

455
00:32:42,373 --> 00:32:45,225
Except on person: my grandfather.

456
00:32:46,242 --> 00:32:48,214
He was picked up at the house.

457
00:32:48,274 --> 00:32:52,066
They hung signs around his neck
saying that he was a traitor.

458
00:32:52,126 --> 00:32:54,314
The parade on Tinseltown.

459
00:32:55,461 --> 00:32:58,352
There was a fanfare of
drums and trumpets.

460
00:32:58,412 --> 00:33:01,542
People spat out of the windows,
water was poured on him.

461
00:33:01,602 --> 00:33:04,791
And he feared for his life, he thought
he was not going to live through it.

462
00:33:04,851 --> 00:33:08,956
And for me, 30 years later when I was
a pilot in Vietnam. I was a prisoner.

463
00:33:09,016 --> 00:33:12,402
I was tortured and they wanted me
to sign a piece of paper saying...

464
00:33:12,700 --> 00:33:15,380
that I condemned the American
action in Vietnam.

465
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,764
And I was strong enough not to do that.

466
00:33:17,824 --> 00:33:21,609
Many times this strength came through
my grandfather. I was thinking of him...

467
00:33:21,669 --> 00:33:24,115
and if he could do it,
so could I do it.

468
00:33:34,865 --> 00:33:37,777
Oh oh. This feels a little bit
too close to home.

469
00:33:45,834 --> 00:33:48,665
Of course, Dieter knew
it was only a film,

470
00:33:48,725 --> 00:33:52,512
but all the old terror returned
as if it were real.

471
00:33:54,478 --> 00:33:58,853
I thought: "You guys behind me with
your camera can only see my back,"

472
00:33:58,913 --> 00:34:02,266
"but you can't know how my
heart is thumping inside."

473
00:34:02,531 --> 00:34:05,484
I told myself:
"Okay, play along with them."

474
00:34:05,673 --> 00:34:08,639
"Running like this might chase
the demons away."

475
00:34:38,413 --> 00:34:41,461
Almost everything that I learned
in survival school back at...

476
00:34:41,521 --> 00:34:44,327
in California, I couldn't
use in the jungle.

477
00:34:44,387 --> 00:34:46,608
I watched my guards,
they taught me a lot.

478
00:34:46,668 --> 00:34:49,835
They taught me how to set traps.
They taught me how to make fire.

479
00:34:49,895 --> 00:34:53,343
In the jungle it's quite easy to find
an old piece of bamboo.

480
00:34:53,555 --> 00:34:56,291
Which is right here.
You split it in half...

481
00:34:56,670 --> 00:34:59,054
And then you mount... half

482
00:34:59,513 --> 00:35:02,750
in a vertical position. You take four
or five sticks and just...

483
00:35:02,810 --> 00:35:06,082
to hold it into place.
Then you take the other half...

484
00:35:06,142 --> 00:35:09,034
and you need to cut a grove in the
other one, from the top.

485
00:35:09,094 --> 00:35:13,704
Cut this grove just far enough in, so it
just barely comes back on the other side.

486
00:35:14,097 --> 00:35:16,210
Then you take a machete...

487
00:35:16,481 --> 00:35:21,153
or anything else, and you make some
...scrapings of the bamboo.

488
00:35:21,213 --> 00:35:23,970
As you can see, it looks
like a little wool.

489
00:35:24,030 --> 00:35:28,110
Now, I have prepared this a little bit
already, but you take this wool...

490
00:35:28,170 --> 00:35:31,496
and you put it over this crack,
then you start rubbing.

491
00:35:40,041 --> 00:35:41,341
Okay.

492
00:35:55,561 --> 00:35:57,985
Being a prisoner, all of
Dengler's thoughts

493
00:35:58,045 --> 00:36:01,292
were focused on another escape,
and on survival.

494
00:36:01,505 --> 00:36:04,291
Back in the mid-sixties,
American strategic

495
00:36:04,316 --> 00:36:06,594
thinking was turned
against Russia.

496
00:36:06,630 --> 00:36:10,769
So, all survival meant survival
in Russia and Siberia.

497
00:36:11,025 --> 00:36:14,221
A jungle war didn't factor much
in their thinking.

498
00:36:14,452 --> 00:36:18,664
And that's why their instructional
films look somewhat funny.

499
00:36:24,037 --> 00:36:28,628
You know, when it rained that hard
you didn't have to collect water.

500
00:36:32,230 --> 00:36:36,307
Of course, our man immediately
comes across heart of palm.

501
00:36:36,367 --> 00:36:40,601
The film hints, as easily as
in the supermarket.

502
00:36:47,073 --> 00:36:50,350
Very important is...
that you have got a knife.

503
00:36:50,946 --> 00:36:55,253
Of course, our man also has his
whetstone on him.

504
00:36:56,106 --> 00:36:58,733
And you better look hard for the enemy.

505
00:37:10,115 --> 00:37:13,596
And now, the knife seems to
be sharp as a razor.

506
00:37:13,656 --> 00:37:16,034
You've got to put it to the test.

507
00:37:16,278 --> 00:37:19,515
A leaf should slice easily in two.

508
00:37:20,961 --> 00:37:25,579
Now, if the leaf doesn't cooperate,
you can still chew it.

509
00:37:34,682 --> 00:37:37,066
Let's suppose you are wounded.

510
00:37:37,269 --> 00:37:41,116
It's always smart to have your
medicine kit on you.

511
00:37:45,344 --> 00:37:47,633
You apply the right ointment.

512
00:37:49,430 --> 00:37:52,491
Rub it in, sleeve down, and done.

513
00:37:54,508 --> 00:37:58,382
And it's a good idea to bring your
radio transmitter along.

514
00:37:58,748 --> 00:38:02,079
You make your position known
to the planes above.

515
00:38:07,150 --> 00:38:09,317
And then, you shoot a flare.

516
00:38:11,774 --> 00:38:16,799
The rescue helicopter spot it, and you
better scramble for a clearing.

517
00:38:19,777 --> 00:38:22,147
The helicopter is already waiting.

518
00:38:22,674 --> 00:38:24,652
But now, this is very odd.

519
00:38:24,712 --> 00:38:27,401
What for God sake is our man signaling

520
00:38:27,461 --> 00:38:30,705
so frantically to the helicopter
right above him?

521
00:39:02,608 --> 00:39:06,197
As we were walking through the jungle,
we always had fire with us.

522
00:39:06,257 --> 00:39:09,434
One of our guards had this little
container on wires.

523
00:39:09,494 --> 00:39:13,172
It was full of charcoal. He would swing
it back and forth so it wouldn't go out.

524
00:39:13,362 --> 00:39:16,340
Some of the other guards would have
a fan made out of bamboo.

525
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:21,317
They would cut it on top with a machete,
then they would beat it flat with a rock.

526
00:39:21,377 --> 00:39:24,302
They knew exactly what rind to cut,
some white sap would come out.

527
00:39:24,362 --> 00:39:27,430
It was really sticky, they would smear
it all over the surface here.

528
00:39:27,490 --> 00:39:31,208
And as we were walking along, they
would just see a small or a big bug

529
00:39:31,268 --> 00:39:34,702
way up on a branch or a leaf.
They would reach up very carefully

530
00:39:34,762 --> 00:39:37,166
and the wings of this bug
would stick on it.

531
00:39:37,226 --> 00:39:40,295
They would take it off and they would
lay it on top of this charcoal.

532
00:39:40,355 --> 00:39:43,097
And it was-we were walking along,
they were barbecuing all the time.

533
00:39:43,157 --> 00:39:46,307
In fact, one time I turned around and
they had a small bird barbecuing.

534
00:39:46,367 --> 00:39:49,233
When we got there in the evening,
they weren't hungry.

535
00:40:11,534 --> 00:40:15,001
I was shot down over Laos, and of course
I was captured by the Pathet Lao.

536
00:40:15,061 --> 00:40:17,397
We started walking towards
the east, towards Vietnam,

537
00:40:17,457 --> 00:40:20,648
and about 2 1/2 weeks later I was
turned over to the Vietcong.

538
00:40:21,396 --> 00:40:24,074
Even though later on I was kept
in a Pathet Lao camp,

539
00:40:24,134 --> 00:40:28,155
it was clear to me that the North
Vietnamese were running the show.

540
00:40:28,827 --> 00:40:31,766
They were a different breed of people,
I was frightened of them.

541
00:40:31,826 --> 00:40:34,583
They were very, very honest.
They were very, very precise.

542
00:40:34,643 --> 00:40:37,236
When I walked with them, we would
come into a village...

543
00:40:37,296 --> 00:40:39,776
They would line up all the people.
They would count the people.

544
00:40:39,801 --> 00:40:41,434
They would write down the
name of the village.

545
00:40:41,494 --> 00:40:43,926
They would look at their watches,
it would be 7:28.

546
00:40:43,986 --> 00:40:45,714
They would know the time.

547
00:40:45,774 --> 00:40:47,864
They would tie me down
different at night.

548
00:40:47,889 --> 00:40:49,881
There was no chance
that I could escape.

549
00:40:50,710 --> 00:40:53,584
In fact, there is one incident that's
very vivid in my mind.

550
00:40:53,644 --> 00:40:55,602
Initially, when I was captured...

551
00:40:55,909 --> 00:40:57,941
they took everything away from me...

552
00:40:58,001 --> 00:41:01,435
except my engagement ring. I insisted
on keeping it and they let me have it.

553
00:41:02,356 --> 00:41:06,392
And here, about 2 1/2 or 3 weeks
later we arrived in this village.

554
00:41:06,452 --> 00:41:10,128
We came to a hut, it just looked
something like this.

555
00:41:10,188 --> 00:41:12,918
There was a villager in the corner,
he was cooking.

556
00:41:13,094 --> 00:41:14,909
Next thing, he's next to me.

557
00:41:14,969 --> 00:41:18,362
He gave me a plate of rice. He smiled
at me, he was very friendly.

558
00:41:19,283 --> 00:41:21,868
All of a sudden he grabs over,
he grabs my hand.

559
00:41:21,928 --> 00:41:24,469
He gets a hold of my ring and he
starts pulling my ring off.

560
00:41:24,529 --> 00:41:26,702
And of course I'm pulling back.
And it's going back and forth,

561
00:41:26,762 --> 00:41:30,191
and back and forth like that. There was
no way this guy's gonna get my ring.

562
00:41:30,251 --> 00:41:32,933
He got up, he left.
I thought it was all over.

563
00:41:33,433 --> 00:41:36,619
All of a sudden, a few seconds later,
he's coming back with a machete.

564
00:41:36,679 --> 00:41:40,357
He raises his arm. I realized then
I better let him have my ring.

565
00:41:40,723 --> 00:41:43,527
The North Vietnamese,
they were in a corner.

566
00:41:43,792 --> 00:41:46,962
They were doing something over there,
they were not aware what was happening.

567
00:41:47,022 --> 00:41:50,861
They got up. Got our stuff together,
and off we went, we left.

568
00:41:50,921 --> 00:41:55,364
I was disappointed. I was unhappy. And
the longer we walked, the angrier I get.

569
00:41:55,424 --> 00:41:58,242
And about 1 1/2 or 2 hours
later I stopped them

570
00:41:58,302 --> 00:42:01,802
I showed them my finger, it was all
white where the ring had been.

571
00:42:01,862 --> 00:42:05,147
At first they didn't understand
what I was talking about.

572
00:42:05,207 --> 00:42:08,297
I made stealing gestures.
They got together, they talked.

573
00:42:08,357 --> 00:42:11,240
Then they turned around and started
walking back towards this village.

574
00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:14,369
Of course, I was happy. I was thinking
I'm getting my ring back.

575
00:42:14,429 --> 00:42:17,971
But I wasn't prepared for what happened
next. We got in this village...

576
00:42:18,377 --> 00:42:21,803
Next thing, they find this villager,
they just beat the hell out of this guy.

577
00:42:21,863 --> 00:42:25,467
And then, they grabbed this guy's hand.
Violently they grabbed his hand.

578
00:42:25,527 --> 00:42:28,001
They put it on top of the table,
they put his finger there.

579
00:42:28,026 --> 00:42:29,221
They chopped his finger off!

580
00:42:29,257 --> 00:42:31,916
I'm leaping back! The
blood is squirting out!

581
00:42:31,941 --> 00:42:34,136
The... finger's laying on the ground.

582
00:42:34,172 --> 00:42:37,159
The North Vietnamese bends down,
he picks up this finger.

583
00:42:37,219 --> 00:42:41,141
He pulls off this ring, he sticks it on
my finger. I was speechless.

584
00:42:41,201 --> 00:42:43,618
I caused this misery, I felt horrible.

585
00:42:43,678 --> 00:42:46,774
He nodded to me, we turned around,
we walked off.

586
00:42:47,612 --> 00:42:51,824
I realized right then and there, you just
don't fool around with the Vietcongs.

587
00:42:54,398 --> 00:42:56,863
It's just a movie. Don't worry about it.

588
00:42:57,038 --> 00:42:59,530
And you still got your fingers
and everything.

589
00:43:33,220 --> 00:43:36,660
Finally, after 3 1/2 weeks I arrived
at a prison camp.

590
00:43:37,472 --> 00:43:40,465
I looked forward to coming to the camp.
I had been beaten so much.

591
00:43:40,525 --> 00:43:43,539
I lost so much blood. I had been
unconscious so many times.

592
00:43:43,599 --> 00:43:46,165
I wanted to share my misery
with someone else.

593
00:43:46,225 --> 00:43:48,439
Other pilots. I was
hoping to see someone,

594
00:43:48,464 --> 00:43:50,523
maybe meet someone
I have known before.

595
00:43:50,559 --> 00:43:54,264
Maybe a doctor would be there, but it was
totally different than what I expected.

596
00:43:54,324 --> 00:43:57,715
First of all, I thought I was all
alone in this... this camp.

597
00:43:58,040 --> 00:43:59,665
High bamboo walls on the side.

598
00:43:59,690 --> 00:44:02,561
The huts were built out of
grass and out of bamboo.

599
00:44:02,597 --> 00:44:04,948
I was let in, they threw me
into one of the huts.

600
00:44:05,008 --> 00:44:08,726
And only three hours later they opened
the door and let the other guys come out.

601
00:44:08,786 --> 00:44:09,978
I couldn't believe my eyes,

602
00:44:10,003 --> 00:44:12,784
the first guy was carrying his
intestines around in his hand.

603
00:44:12,820 --> 00:44:15,334
There was six of them. There were
4 Thais, 2 Americans...

604
00:44:15,394 --> 00:44:18,219
Duane Martin who became
my friend later on.

605
00:44:18,279 --> 00:44:20,371
The next guy came out, he had no teeth.

606
00:44:20,431 --> 00:44:23,202
With a rusty nail and a rock they would
knock each other's teeth in

607
00:44:23,262 --> 00:44:25,965
...to let the puss out.
They'd been there 2 1/2 years.

608
00:44:26,025 --> 00:44:28,469
It was just awful. I looked at
them and I realized

609
00:44:28,529 --> 00:44:32,180
that's exactly what I'm gonna look in six
months. So, I said I'm leaving tonight.

610
00:44:32,240 --> 00:44:36,405
No. I was advised not to because of the
rain. We needed the water to drink.

611
00:44:36,635 --> 00:44:40,751
At nights we would be handcuffed.
Sometimes we would get cross-handcuffed,

612
00:44:40,811 --> 00:44:42,972
sometimes straight-handcuffed.
Cross-handcuffed,

613
00:44:43,032 --> 00:44:45,296
this is a more modern handcuff,
would be like that.

614
00:44:45,356 --> 00:44:48,808
Left wrist would go to the right wrist
of the guy on my right.

615
00:44:48,868 --> 00:44:51,963
My right wrist would go to the left
wrist of the guy on my left.

616
00:44:52,023 --> 00:44:54,645
This way we'd be together.
Everybody had dysentery.

617
00:44:54,705 --> 00:44:58,300
Twenty times a night, this guy made the
motion, this guy had to make the motion.

618
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:01,998
On top of it, our legs were in foot
blocks, big wooden blocks they made.

619
00:45:02,058 --> 00:45:05,098
Our feet would be driven through there,
a pin would come in between.

620
00:45:05,158 --> 00:45:07,924
Some sides were be longer,
sometimes it would be shorter.

621
00:45:07,984 --> 00:45:09,997
And this is the way they
expected you to sleep.

622
00:45:10,057 --> 00:45:12,421
If you had no blankets it
was miserable cold.

623
00:45:14,790 --> 00:45:17,012
In the misery of those nights,

624
00:45:17,072 --> 00:45:20,953
Dengler often dreamt of oceans
and foreign shores.

625
00:45:26,022 --> 00:45:28,447
And I dreamt that a boat appeared.

626
00:45:28,507 --> 00:45:31,508
And the whole American Navy
came to rescue me.

627
00:45:31,738 --> 00:45:33,973
And I waved. And I shouted.

628
00:45:34,213 --> 00:45:36,177
But they wouldn't listen.

629
00:45:36,237 --> 00:45:39,129
They just kept on going and
went somewhere else.

630
00:46:08,500 --> 00:46:12,033
As far as food, they themselves were very
poor. At the beginning we were given

631
00:46:12,093 --> 00:46:16,010
a handful of rice, then later on a...
a handful of rice for all of us.

632
00:46:16,457 --> 00:46:19,508
Sometimes they would catch a deer.
They would cut a deer open,

633
00:46:19,568 --> 00:46:24,057
they would take the grass out from the
inside. That's what we would get to eat.

634
00:46:24,117 --> 00:46:25,281
They would keep the meat.

635
00:46:25,306 --> 00:46:28,193
They would take the meat and
stuff it in a bamboo container.

636
00:46:28,229 --> 00:46:30,691
After 4 or 5 days it would
rot so bad for themselves.

637
00:46:30,716 --> 00:46:32,174
They would come in with a towel

638
00:46:32,210 --> 00:46:34,793
They would pour it out, it would
be white, it was covered smack,

639
00:46:34,853 --> 00:46:37,735
and it would stink to high heaven.
First time I tried it I vomited.

640
00:46:37,795 --> 00:46:39,963
But if you didn't eat it, you just died.

641
00:46:40,023 --> 00:46:42,890
We were luck, though, because we
couldn't go to the bathroom.

642
00:46:42,950 --> 00:46:45,178
So, once every 3 or 4 weeks they
would let us out.

643
00:46:45,238 --> 00:46:48,175
We would go to the bathroom right below
us, it would stink to high heaven.

644
00:46:48,235 --> 00:46:50,912
I mean it was awful, but there
were rats down there.

645
00:46:50,972 --> 00:46:53,581
And we couldn't catch the rats,
but there was a snake there.

646
00:46:53,641 --> 00:46:55,951
And every so often we were
lucky to catch that snake.

647
00:46:56,011 --> 00:46:58,087
We would look, we would
lay on our bellies,

648
00:46:58,112 --> 00:47:00,092
we watched this snake
line up on the rat.

649
00:47:00,128 --> 00:47:02,697
Get a hold of the rat. We had a stick,
we would get the snake,

650
00:47:02,757 --> 00:47:05,048
we pulled the snake up,
we pulled the rat out.

651
00:47:05,108 --> 00:47:08,031
We cut the rat apart and
everybody got his share.

652
00:47:08,091 --> 00:47:11,640
We lost, of course, a lot of weight
waiting for the rain to come. But...

653
00:47:11,700 --> 00:47:16,011
We had to supplement our food for
the day that we left for freedom.

654
00:47:17,305 --> 00:47:20,409
Well, initially... initially,
February or March...

655
00:47:20,469 --> 00:47:24,836
we were allowed to go to the bathroom
in the morning... for about two minutes.

656
00:47:25,354 --> 00:47:27,111
And... we had...

657
00:47:27,286 --> 00:47:30,487
We have a couple of tubes you go
in at night and you can imagine

658
00:47:30,547 --> 00:47:32,885
you're in a big block in the woods,
and you're handcuffed like that

659
00:47:32,945 --> 00:47:34,915
and you got to go to
the bathroom at night

660
00:47:34,940 --> 00:47:36,818
with a guy having
diarrhea or dysentery.

661
00:47:36,854 --> 00:47:41,302
So, it was a real mess, but while we
walked down, we run down like hell.

662
00:47:41,362 --> 00:47:44,760
There's about a 20 or 30 foot
walk to the hole.

663
00:47:44,820 --> 00:47:47,634
And while we did this they...
they shot at us.

664
00:47:47,694 --> 00:47:51,257
And it got so close that some of
the prisoners came back with

665
00:47:51,317 --> 00:47:54,629
black in the face, or greased their
hair with a bullet, and...

666
00:47:54,689 --> 00:47:58,598
So, we didn't even want to go anymore.
We... we rather stayed with the tubes.

667
00:47:59,441 --> 00:48:01,770
The question is: "Why were
they shooting at ya?"

668
00:48:01,830 --> 00:48:06,156
Just harassment. They will take a gun
and they'd show it to you, they put a...

669
00:48:06,216 --> 00:48:09,071
a round in it and they put it right
onto your head and they...

670
00:48:09,131 --> 00:48:11,739
take the safety off and they go:
click, click, click, click.

671
00:48:11,799 --> 00:48:15,935
And they'll laugh.
Stuff like that. So...

672
00:48:16,259 --> 00:48:17,989
I'm lucky to be here!

673
00:48:19,651 --> 00:48:21,626
The camp was inside Laos,

674
00:48:21,686 --> 00:48:25,154
and the shortest way out would
have been east to the ocean.

675
00:48:25,214 --> 00:48:29,839
But there were impassable mountains and,
of course, North Vietnam.

676
00:48:30,342 --> 00:48:33,584
What made most sense for
them was to go west.

677
00:48:33,644 --> 00:48:36,076
To float down the river to the Mekong,

678
00:48:36,136 --> 00:48:38,854
and then cross to freedom in Thailand.

679
00:48:46,191 --> 00:48:48,465
Our plan to escape
from this prison camp

680
00:48:48,490 --> 00:48:50,873
was planned right down
to the last detail.

681
00:48:50,909 --> 00:48:54,243
We had six months, we're waiting
for the monsoon rain.

682
00:48:54,569 --> 00:48:57,429
We had a little problem
amongst ourselves.

683
00:48:57,489 --> 00:48:59,976
Some of the prisoners didn't
want to escape.

684
00:49:00,036 --> 00:49:03,123
In 1966 there was really no war in Laos.

685
00:49:03,371 --> 00:49:05,769
They were hoping to be released
pretty soon, and also

686
00:49:05,829 --> 00:49:08,043
they were afraid to be shot
on the way out.

687
00:49:08,103 --> 00:49:10,762
This changed pretty dramatically,
real quick, because the Thais,

688
00:49:10,822 --> 00:49:12,526
who spoke the
language, in this hut

689
00:49:12,551 --> 00:49:14,586
overheard the guards
outside talking about

690
00:49:14,622 --> 00:49:16,482
that they would take
us in the jungle,

691
00:49:16,507 --> 00:49:18,604
shoot us so it would
look like we'd escaped

692
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:20,716
because they wanted to
go home anyway, because

693
00:49:20,741 --> 00:49:22,418
they had hardly
anything else to eat.

694
00:49:23,183 --> 00:49:25,988
Of course, now we all
thought alike.

695
00:49:26,048 --> 00:49:28,711
And we had to move really,
really quick. And the plan was

696
00:49:28,771 --> 00:49:31,122
that if I would make it out of my hut...

697
00:49:31,182 --> 00:49:35,397
into this hut over here, without being
seen, the other guys would follow me.

698
00:49:36,078 --> 00:49:37,822
Now, we had...

699
00:49:38,217 --> 00:49:40,778
for the last 2 or 3 weeks,
we had a little diagram.

700
00:49:40,838 --> 00:49:44,237
We had little squares with names on it
for the people and the rifles.

701
00:49:44,297 --> 00:49:46,840
We would look through the cracks.
We would observe them.

702
00:49:46,865 --> 00:49:47,979
We would listen to them.

703
00:49:48,015 --> 00:49:51,959
And pretty soon we knew exactly where
every rifle was, where every person was,

704
00:49:52,019 --> 00:49:54,138
because this was very, very important.

705
00:49:54,198 --> 00:49:58,006
That they would all be in the kitchen at
the same time, because our plan was

706
00:49:58,066 --> 00:50:00,716
that while they were in the kitchen
we would encircle them.

707
00:50:00,776 --> 00:50:03,195
We would capture them.
Lock 'em up. Hold the camp

708
00:50:03,255 --> 00:50:06,940
Signal the airplanes at night and
be rescued right out of there.

709
00:50:08,125 --> 00:50:11,748
Now, during the day there was only
one time that we could do this.

710
00:50:11,808 --> 00:50:14,568
We had about two minutes,
120 seconds to do this.

711
00:50:14,628 --> 00:50:18,469
And this is when the cook over here
would yell: "Chow time! Food time!"

712
00:50:18,529 --> 00:50:21,729
Only then would the guards leave
their rifles behind.

713
00:50:21,789 --> 00:50:24,440
The next problem was to get out
of the handcuffs.

714
00:50:24,500 --> 00:50:28,485
It's quite simple. Nowadays everybody
ought to know how to open a handcuff.

715
00:50:28,545 --> 00:50:32,257
If you come a little closer with your
camera I can show you how to do that.

716
00:50:34,164 --> 00:50:36,363
With this small key,
I'm gonna open the

717
00:50:36,388 --> 00:50:38,751
handcuff to show you
the functions inside.

718
00:50:39,149 --> 00:50:43,154
As you look in there, you see this
small spring going back and forth.

719
00:50:43,628 --> 00:50:48,027
You'll also see a few teeth in there
that holds the handcuff in place.

720
00:50:52,854 --> 00:50:55,891
Now, just with a regular paperclip...

721
00:50:56,593 --> 00:50:59,862
you can open this handcuff quite
simply by inserting...

722
00:51:00,039 --> 00:51:02,191
one of these ends into the opening.

723
00:51:02,251 --> 00:51:05,446
Apply pressure to the spring,
pulling the handcuff open.

724
00:51:10,997 --> 00:51:13,422
The day came. The cook yelled:

725
00:51:14,130 --> 00:51:15,411
"Chow time!"

726
00:51:15,471 --> 00:51:19,133
I stripped my blocks, I let myself to
the floor. I was underneath my hut now.

727
00:51:19,193 --> 00:51:22,864
I crawled quickly over to the logs, those
heavy logs that I had to lift out. I...

728
00:51:22,924 --> 00:51:26,064
actually loosened them the day before.
My heart was really pounding.

729
00:51:26,124 --> 00:51:29,686
I crawled across. I came to this
fence. I untied the rattan.

730
00:51:29,746 --> 00:51:32,887
Slipped the bamboo up and rushed through
this door and I leaped into this hut.

731
00:51:32,947 --> 00:51:37,464
There were three rifles in there, two I
passed away, and the other one I kept.

732
00:51:37,836 --> 00:51:41,336
I ran out into the open. Nobody came out
from this side except the guards

733
00:51:41,396 --> 00:51:44,551
running in my direction. They must
have heard or seen the other guys.

734
00:51:44,611 --> 00:51:47,820
This big shootout started. All of a
sudden the bullets were flying.

735
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:51,381
Somehow we had miscalculated.
Somebody had a rifle in there.

736
00:51:51,441 --> 00:51:54,391
I had this sub-machine gun in my hand.
I never shot one before.

737
00:51:54,451 --> 00:51:57,061
When I pulled the trigger it
practically flew out of my hand.

738
00:51:57,121 --> 00:52:00,996
It raised up like that and this allowed
them to close this distance real quick.

739
00:52:01,056 --> 00:52:03,489
They came within 2 or 3 feet from me.

740
00:52:03,549 --> 00:52:06,063
The moron, one of the guys,
had a machete in his hand.

741
00:52:06,123 --> 00:52:08,445
He came within 4 or 5 feet,
I shot him through the hip.

742
00:52:08,505 --> 00:52:10,911
It lifted him up, it threw him
down to the ground.

743
00:52:10,971 --> 00:52:13,375
Next thing I'm looking up,
he's getting up again.

744
00:52:13,435 --> 00:52:15,426
He still had the machete,
he's still coming at me.

745
00:52:15,486 --> 00:52:18,946
Of course this time I couldn't miss he
was right 2 or 3 feet in front of me.

746
00:52:19,006 --> 00:52:20,661
I couldn't believe it.

747
00:52:20,721 --> 00:52:24,039
I didn't have a scratch. There was five
dead guards laying on the ground.

748
00:52:24,099 --> 00:52:27,935
Two of them got away. They ran a zigzag
pattern and they got in the jungle.

749
00:52:27,995 --> 00:52:30,454
I knew then, right then and there,
they would get help...

750
00:52:30,514 --> 00:52:32,905
and we had to get out of there.
Where was Duane?

751
00:52:32,965 --> 00:52:36,079
I saw him behind this bush over
here, he had vomited.

752
00:52:36,139 --> 00:52:38,979
I yelled to him: "Duane, let's get out
of here! Let's get out of here!"

753
00:52:39,039 --> 00:52:41,321
We took off. We ran down between
this kitchen. We run...

754
00:52:41,381 --> 00:52:43,950
ran amongst those dead guys
laying on the ground.

755
00:52:44,010 --> 00:52:47,191
And it was very important because our
shoes were tied together in a bundle,

756
00:52:47,251 --> 00:52:49,483
were hanging on this hut over here.

757
00:52:49,543 --> 00:52:51,982
The shoes we needed in the
jungle but when we got there.

758
00:52:52,007 --> 00:52:53,076
they were already taken.

759
00:52:53,112 --> 00:52:55,626
The other guys must have taken
them and run off with them.

760
00:52:55,686 --> 00:52:58,952
And then, Duane and I, we had
no choice but to turn around,

761
00:52:59,012 --> 00:53:01,218
barefoot we ran into the jungle.

762
00:53:04,108 --> 00:53:08,535
Of the seven of us that escaped,
I was the only one that came out alive.

763
00:53:08,595 --> 00:53:12,855
The other ones disappeared in the jungle
and nobody ever heard from them again.

764
00:53:24,342 --> 00:53:27,965
God! How did I ever make it through
this jungle, barefoot, for weeks.

765
00:53:28,025 --> 00:53:29,776
I'll never know.

766
00:53:36,313 --> 00:53:39,950
Dieter and Duane were struggling to
make their way through the jungle.

767
00:53:40,010 --> 00:53:44,159
Weak and starved, their feet
badly cut by thorns.

768
00:53:44,219 --> 00:53:48,434
After ten days they reached a river,
somewhat like this one.

769
00:53:48,494 --> 00:53:52,887
Only the river was much higher
because of the monsoon rains.

770
00:53:55,188 --> 00:53:57,531
We were ecstatic. We felt like dancing

771
00:53:57,591 --> 00:54:00,377
and we thought that this was our
highway to freedom.

772
00:54:01,590 --> 00:54:06,969
Exhausted as they were, they managed to
build a small raft and climbed aboard.

773
00:54:09,079 --> 00:54:12,062
There we were on this river,
this beautiful river,

774
00:54:12,122 --> 00:54:14,895
drifting down between hills and
mountains for a couple-

775
00:54:14,955 --> 00:54:17,359
hour and a half, down towards Thailand.

776
00:54:18,149 --> 00:54:20,832
I thought I heard something. I said:
"Duane, do you hear anything?"

777
00:54:20,892 --> 00:54:24,592
But then it got quiet again, but when
we came a... around the next hill,

778
00:54:24,652 --> 00:54:26,266
we heard it at the same time.

779
00:54:26,326 --> 00:54:28,677
We both yelled: "Waterfalls!"
He leaped off.

780
00:54:28,737 --> 00:54:31,973
I jumped in the water. I was actually
in the water, I grabbed the rifles.

781
00:54:32,033 --> 00:54:34,673
I kicked as hard as I could.
I was taken off.

782
00:54:34,698 --> 00:54:36,935
I was going then towards...
this side.

783
00:54:36,971 --> 00:54:38,796
Duane was already nearly over there,

784
00:54:38,856 --> 00:54:42,050
but I had these rifles in my arm and
I couldn't really swim that fast.

785
00:54:42,110 --> 00:54:44,652
And the current shot, picking up,
and quicker and quicker!

786
00:54:44,712 --> 00:54:46,893
And I thought I wouldn't
make it and finally

787
00:54:46,918 --> 00:54:48,952
there was a couple of
rocks sticking out.

788
00:54:48,988 --> 00:54:51,815
I clung on this rock and I looked
over the side and...

789
00:54:51,875 --> 00:54:55,670
our raft had tumbled and tumbled
and tumbled down 300 feet.

790
00:54:55,730 --> 00:54:58,120
It disintegrated on the bottom.
I was speechless.

791
00:54:58,180 --> 00:55:01,158
I looked at Duane, he was snow-white.
We had just... escaped death

792
00:55:01,218 --> 00:55:03,433
I mean it was truly touch and go.

793
00:55:03,799 --> 00:55:07,395
We were speechless. We just sat
there after I made it to shore.

794
00:55:07,831 --> 00:55:11,195
Trying to decide what to do.
One of the rifles, we threw away.

795
00:55:11,255 --> 00:55:13,592
It was vertical going down,
on both sides.

796
00:55:13,652 --> 00:55:17,133
We had a very difficult, because it
was full of green moss.

797
00:55:17,193 --> 00:55:19,516
Full of green mud during
the rainy season.

798
00:55:19,576 --> 00:55:22,989
The ground was very muddy and on
the vines we were sliding down,

799
00:55:23,014 --> 00:55:24,326
helping each other down.

800
00:55:24,361 --> 00:55:26,725
And late in the evening we
arrived on the bottom.

801
00:55:26,785 --> 00:55:29,961
We were totally exhausted.
We were totally disillusioned.

802
00:55:30,021 --> 00:55:33,067
Then barefoot, over
rocks and sticks we...

803
00:55:33,127 --> 00:55:36,281
Down the river we went, looking
forward towards freedom.

804
00:56:00,010 --> 00:56:03,320
To this day, I often think
about Duane Martin.

805
00:56:03,524 --> 00:56:06,704
We shared so many hardships,
hopes and despair.

806
00:56:06,764 --> 00:56:09,211
And this made us grow very close.

807
00:56:09,271 --> 00:56:13,323
By the end, Duane was closer to me
than anyone else in my life.

808
00:56:13,383 --> 00:56:16,074
Even closer than my mother
and my brothers.

809
00:56:24,808 --> 00:56:28,568
Behind me is the Mekong.
We called it "The Big Muddy".

810
00:56:28,889 --> 00:56:33,411
Over there is Laos. I was a prisoner of
war over here. Over here is Thailand.

811
00:56:33,643 --> 00:56:34,964
Freedom.

812
00:56:35,263 --> 00:56:39,172
We talked about this river so many times.
We dreamt about this river.

813
00:56:39,232 --> 00:56:41,324
This river was our target.

814
00:56:41,964 --> 00:56:44,062
But we never reached it.

815
00:56:44,850 --> 00:56:47,970
When I think about it now,
even though it's over 30 years ago,

816
00:56:48,030 --> 00:56:50,108
it's just like it happened yesterday.

817
00:56:50,168 --> 00:56:52,395
I remember, Duane and I, we had...

818
00:56:52,455 --> 00:56:56,303
nearly starved to death when we escaped
the camp. We were barefoot in the jungle

819
00:56:56,363 --> 00:56:59,109
Within the first mile our feet
were cut to shreds.

820
00:56:59,169 --> 00:57:01,820
In fact, they swelled up
to big white stumps.

821
00:57:02,283 --> 00:57:05,238
We had found a single sole
of a tennis shoe.

822
00:57:05,298 --> 00:57:06,987
And we alternated wearing it,

823
00:57:07,012 --> 00:57:10,097
and we would tie it to one
of our foot with rattan.

824
00:57:10,552 --> 00:57:12,850
And then came the monsoon.

825
00:57:12,910 --> 00:57:14,866
The monsoon is something else.

826
00:57:15,084 --> 00:57:18,516
I mean, you have to really be there to...
to know what I'm talking about.

827
00:57:18,576 --> 00:57:20,612
It's just deafening.
You can scream on top

828
00:57:20,637 --> 00:57:22,435
of your lungs and
nobody can hear you.

829
00:57:22,471 --> 00:57:26,184
The water comes down like somebody
turned on... a bathtub.

830
00:57:26,244 --> 00:57:28,920
It goes for hours, for days. The mud!

831
00:57:29,166 --> 00:57:33,169
The bamboo! All the stuff the comes
down from the mountains.

832
00:57:33,229 --> 00:57:35,607
In fact, Duane and I, we had
to look for high grounds.

833
00:57:35,667 --> 00:57:38,576
We tie ourselves down to
a stump or trees.

834
00:57:38,636 --> 00:57:41,042
Not to be swept down with
this mud overnight.

835
00:57:41,102 --> 00:57:43,916
Of course, we would hug each other.
We needed each other for warmth.

836
00:57:43,976 --> 00:57:46,598
We needed each other for
friendship in this misery.

837
00:57:46,658 --> 00:57:48,328
And then came dawn.

838
00:57:48,388 --> 00:57:51,150
I would look over there and I couldn't
even recognize Duane.

839
00:57:51,210 --> 00:57:54,775
Duane would be covered from top to
bottom with mud and blood.

840
00:57:54,835 --> 00:57:56,498
I looked the same.

841
00:57:56,558 --> 00:57:59,821
We had leeches, not 20, not 50.
Hundreds. It was like a belt.

842
00:57:59,881 --> 00:58:02,532
It was black around there. Our legs
were covered with leeches.

843
00:58:02,592 --> 00:58:06,140
They were looking for the soft spots.
Between our fingers, underneath the arms,

844
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:08,933
and the nose and the ears.
It was awful.

845
00:58:08,993 --> 00:58:12,813
They're tiny, tiny creatures. Like a
needle, they find ever tiny, little hole.

846
00:58:12,873 --> 00:58:15,315
They attach themselves,
they suck themselves

847
00:58:15,340 --> 00:58:17,509
full with blood, as
big as this finger.

848
00:58:19,023 --> 00:58:22,142
We would then take our rags off,
we would take bamboo

849
00:58:22,202 --> 00:58:25,098
and we scraped them off, and on we went.

850
00:58:25,301 --> 00:58:28,298
But then, there were a couple of times
we thought we really had it made.

851
00:58:28,358 --> 00:58:31,526
One time, we built a raft.
We had to abandon the raft.

852
00:58:31,586 --> 00:58:33,182
The raft went over
the waterfall.

853
00:58:33,207 --> 00:58:35,459
But then, later on we
made this beautiful fire.

854
00:58:35,495 --> 00:58:39,248
We waved at night to the airplanes.
They saw us, they circled overhead.

855
00:58:39,308 --> 00:58:42,448
And we knew, we're gonna be rescued,
that next morning.

856
00:58:42,508 --> 00:58:44,927
We were elated. We hugged each
other, we cried together.

857
00:58:44,987 --> 00:58:48,331
We talked about who's going in the
helicopter first. What are we gonna eat.

858
00:58:48,391 --> 00:58:50,014
Who are we gonna call.

859
00:58:50,074 --> 00:58:53,234
And then morning came, and we waited
and waited, and nothing happened.

860
00:58:53,294 --> 00:58:55,604
It was a blow. What a disappointment.

861
00:58:55,664 --> 00:58:58,696
But then we had to move on because
we were starving to death.

862
00:58:58,756 --> 00:59:02,713
In fact, we couldn't even walk anymore.
We were crawling and lay on our knees

863
00:59:02,773 --> 00:59:04,190
around this small little trail.

864
00:59:04,215 --> 00:59:06,781
And all of a sudden there was
this small boy on our left.

865
00:59:06,817 --> 00:59:09,726
He was carrying a water container
over his shoulder.

866
00:59:09,786 --> 00:59:12,873
And all of a sudden, there was all this
commotion. People were running...

867
00:59:12,933 --> 00:59:15,146
all over each way. There was noise.

868
00:59:15,206 --> 00:59:18,783
Duane and I right away were on our knees
and we put our hands together. We said:

869
00:59:18,843 --> 00:59:20,376
"Hello. Sabai."

870
00:59:20,436 --> 00:59:23,750
Duane then starts sitting back
and started getting up.

871
00:59:23,810 --> 00:59:26,782
And all of a sudden out of the corner
of my eye I saw something.

872
00:59:26,842 --> 00:59:29,228
I looked over there, a villager
was standing there.

873
00:59:29,288 --> 00:59:31,380
He had a machete in his hand,
high above his head.

874
00:59:31,440 --> 00:59:33,818
He just hesitated for a second
and then he swung.

875
00:59:33,878 --> 00:59:36,949
He swung for me, I ducked,
it missed me by a few inches.

876
00:59:37,009 --> 00:59:40,068
He hit Duane in the upper leg,
the blade was deeply buried.

877
00:59:40,128 --> 00:59:44,427
And then Duane screamed. He reached
down, he grabbed his leg, screaming!

878
00:59:44,487 --> 00:59:46,361
And with the next swipe...

879
00:59:46,421 --> 00:59:49,153
Duane's head came off.
Blood squirting out!

880
00:59:49,213 --> 00:59:51,590
I start screaming. I leaped
towards this villager.

881
00:59:51,650 --> 00:59:54,246
He turned around, he ran.
In fact, they all started running

882
00:59:54,306 --> 00:59:56,265
And unknown to me,
I had reached down and

883
00:59:56,290 --> 00:59:58,069
grabbed this rubber
sole from his foot.

884
00:59:58,105 --> 01:00:02,703
I turned around and ran, where thirty
seconds before I was crawling along.

885
01:00:04,105 --> 01:00:06,230
Duane, my friend, he was gone.

886
01:00:06,290 --> 01:00:10,752
And from then on, my motions,
my progress, became mechanical.

887
01:00:11,377 --> 01:00:14,347
In fact, I couldn't care less if
I would live or die.

888
01:00:14,407 --> 01:00:16,287
But then later on,
there was this bear.

889
01:00:16,312 --> 01:00:18,333
This beautiful bear
that was following me.

890
01:00:18,369 --> 01:00:22,041
It was circling me. In fact, sometimes
when it was gone, I missed it.

891
01:00:22,101 --> 01:00:24,425
It was just like a dog.
It was just like a pet.

892
01:00:24,485 --> 01:00:28,252
Of course, I knew, this bear was there,
he was waiting to eat me.

893
01:00:31,764 --> 01:00:33,808
When I think about it...

894
01:00:34,407 --> 01:00:36,586
This bear meant death to me.

895
01:00:36,968 --> 01:00:38,983
And it is really ironic...

896
01:00:40,046 --> 01:00:43,097
That the only friend I had
in the end was death.

897
01:01:40,050 --> 01:01:45,335
How Dieter Dengler has been able to
cope with all this remains a mystery.

898
01:01:45,395 --> 01:01:51,162
He hides behind the casual remark
that this was the fun part of his life.

899
01:02:03,228 --> 01:02:06,824
Dieter took an early retirement
from the Armed Forces

900
01:02:06,884 --> 01:02:09,589
and became a civilian test pilot.

901
01:02:09,649 --> 01:02:11,903
He survived four more crashes,

902
01:02:12,094 --> 01:02:14,178
and flies to this day.

903
01:02:14,396 --> 01:02:16,561
Death did not want him.

904
01:02:30,628 --> 01:02:34,442
- What's that, about 20 pounds?
- No, 30 actually. -30 Pounds. Wow!

905
01:02:36,252 --> 01:02:39,848
My God, he'll be surprised. How long
did it take to cook that thing?

906
01:02:39,908 --> 01:02:42,450
- A good five hours.
- Five hours.

907
01:02:48,000 --> 01:02:51,473
Dieter! God, my suspicions were true!

908
01:02:53,282 --> 01:02:55,979
- It's good to see you!
- Happy Thanksgiving, friend!

909
01:02:56,039 --> 01:03:00,610
This is Eugene Deatrick, to whom Dieter
Dengler ultimately owes his life.

910
01:03:00,937 --> 01:03:03,825
Dieter wanted to surprise him
on Thanksgiving.

911
01:03:04,319 --> 01:03:07,616
I wouldn't be here without you and
I really appreciate what you did for me.

912
01:03:07,676 --> 01:03:11,552
- And that you followed it up and...
- Sit down, tell me all about it.

913
01:03:13,690 --> 01:03:14,897
My God!

914
01:03:14,957 --> 01:03:16,946
You're losing hair. Both of them.

915
01:03:17,006 --> 01:03:19,429
Tell me did you have any
suspicion, even a little bit?

916
01:03:19,454 --> 01:03:20,511
I had a little bit.

917
01:03:20,547 --> 01:03:22,530
You don't come down here for...

918
01:03:22,590 --> 01:03:26,194
no one telling you what it is,
but by God it's good to see you.

919
01:03:26,520 --> 01:03:29,966
All right, I haven't done that
too many times, but...

920
01:03:30,026 --> 01:03:31,709
What a turkey.

921
01:03:31,941 --> 01:03:34,160
It seems like yesterday that...

922
01:03:34,664 --> 01:03:37,947
Andy and I started to take
off that morning.

923
01:03:39,281 --> 01:03:43,558
I have said many times to people that
this was a million in one shot.

924
01:03:43,618 --> 01:03:47,467
If everything hadn't gone exactly right
we never would have found you.

925
01:03:47,527 --> 01:03:49,442
Just step by step.

926
01:03:49,699 --> 01:03:51,606
We were late getting off.

927
01:03:51,666 --> 01:03:53,554
Supposed to leave at eight.

928
01:03:53,743 --> 01:03:56,318
Didn't get off until about noon or 1:00.

929
01:03:56,535 --> 01:03:59,763
We came up and it was an
armed wrecking area.

930
01:03:59,823 --> 01:04:04,517
Which meant that you could bomb anything
in the area if you thought it was enemy.

931
01:04:04,966 --> 01:04:09,678
And I left Andy high, to stay
in contact with Danang.

932
01:04:09,882 --> 01:04:11,788
And I went down on the deck.

933
01:04:11,848 --> 01:04:14,513
And I saw this big boy river
coming out of the mountain.

934
01:04:14,573 --> 01:04:17,196
And I thought I'll go up
that as a first shot.

935
01:04:18,679 --> 01:04:22,316
And again, if it hadn't been that
you were right in the bend,

936
01:04:22,376 --> 01:04:25,463
because as you fly straight
I couldn't see down.

937
01:04:25,523 --> 01:04:28,567
But just where you were there
was a bend in the river.

938
01:04:28,627 --> 01:04:31,140
I made that 90 degree bank and

939
01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:33,497
- looked down and there on that rock...
- A split second!

940
01:04:33,557 --> 01:04:36,003
And this nut sitting down
there waving at me.

941
01:04:36,063 --> 01:04:38,645
And I thought that was nice and flew on.

942
01:04:38,705 --> 01:04:43,396
I must have gone 5 or 10 minutes and I'll
never know whatever made me come back.

943
01:04:43,546 --> 01:04:46,066
But something just didn't
settle right, that...

944
01:04:46,126 --> 01:04:49,253
I guess you, it wasn't a
conscious effort, but...

945
01:04:49,313 --> 01:04:51,106
Natives don't...

946
01:04:51,166 --> 01:04:54,483
- Hang on and wave to you.
- Wave to me on a fully loaded airplane.

947
01:04:54,543 --> 01:04:58,119
So, I came back and when you were
there a second time waving...

948
01:04:58,179 --> 01:05:00,707
I really wasn't sure what it was...

949
01:05:00,767 --> 01:05:03,921
You know that piece of white material,
you know where it came from?

950
01:05:03,981 --> 01:05:05,514
- The flare.
- The flare.

951
01:05:05,574 --> 01:05:08,523
Actually, it wasn't the flare.
About five days before...

952
01:05:08,583 --> 01:05:11,103
You know, I had gone down to a
village, and the Americans saw it

953
01:05:11,117 --> 01:05:13,618
and dropped flares, and it was
one of those parachutes.

954
01:05:13,678 --> 01:05:14,866
And I had already given up...

955
01:05:14,891 --> 01:05:16,870
It looked like fishing
nets from where I was.

956
01:05:16,906 --> 01:05:18,665
Well I'll tell ya. I
pulled that sucker down

957
01:05:18,690 --> 01:05:20,346
and I had that thing
in my little backpack

958
01:05:20,364 --> 01:05:22,490
And when I heard an airplane
I didn't even look up.

959
01:05:22,515 --> 01:05:23,986
All I could do is
reach back there.

960
01:05:24,022 --> 01:05:28,367
That's when I pulled that white piece of
material out. I was thinking: "SOS. SOS."

961
01:05:28,427 --> 01:05:32,528
"How does it go, does the S go this
way? Or the S go this way?"

962
01:05:32,588 --> 01:05:35,181
And I ripped my pants off,
trying to lay it down.

963
01:05:35,241 --> 01:05:36,946
And every so often
I would look up and

964
01:05:36,971 --> 01:05:38,973
you were way in the corner
between the clouds.

965
01:05:39,009 --> 01:05:40,822
I thought: "Oh God.
Please don't let him leave.

966
01:05:40,847 --> 01:05:41,967
Please don't let him leave."

967
01:05:41,977 --> 01:05:45,175
- I was laying out this SOS...
- And as I came back around the next time

968
01:05:45,235 --> 01:05:49,462
I asked Andy if he could see anything,
and that's when he saw the parachute

969
01:05:49,522 --> 01:05:52,595
and said: "It looks like he has an SOS."
Well that...

970
01:05:52,655 --> 01:05:54,686
gave us both the clue that...

971
01:05:54,746 --> 01:05:58,750
someone was down there, and the fact
that you were there after three passes...

972
01:05:58,810 --> 01:06:03,515
So, we pulled off to the side and I
called the crown aircraft, which is the

973
01:06:03,575 --> 01:06:06,572
C-121 controller in that area.

974
01:06:07,043 --> 01:06:09,930
And I asked them if anyone
had been shot down.

975
01:06:09,990 --> 01:06:14,819
They said there was no Air Force, no
Navy, no Marine, no Laotians, no Thai.

976
01:06:14,879 --> 01:06:15,963
Nobody?

977
01:06:16,023 --> 01:06:18,687
And I said well... insisted that
someone was down there,

978
01:06:18,747 --> 01:06:21,888
and they said "Well, it couldn't be."
And a long conversation went on.

979
01:06:21,948 --> 01:06:26,532
But we finally got approval and they got
the rescue helicopters, two of them.

980
01:06:26,736 --> 01:06:29,842
And the aircraft on the coast
escorted them in.

981
01:06:29,902 --> 01:06:32,865
I took the lead helicopter
when they got in sight.

982
01:06:32,925 --> 01:06:35,860
Put him down and told him where
you were, and went out.

983
01:06:35,920 --> 01:06:39,265
And that's when he dropped his long
range tank up the river from you.

984
01:06:39,325 --> 01:06:41,880
That's the first time I realized
it was for real.

985
01:06:41,940 --> 01:06:44,521
Because you know, I was hallucinating
all this time

986
01:06:44,581 --> 01:06:47,395
And when I smelled that gasoline
I knew it was for real.

987
01:06:47,455 --> 01:06:51,250
And... he couldn't get down very low
because of the mountain.

988
01:06:51,310 --> 01:06:55,336
And he dropped the penetrator cable down
and I saw you climbing aboard.

989
01:06:55,396 --> 01:06:58,141
And it was then that my heart
began to beat, I'll tell you.

990
01:06:58,201 --> 01:07:01,846
Well you know, I couldn't even pull
down the zip on the penetrator.

991
01:07:01,906 --> 01:07:04,937
I had it in my armpit as I was going up.

992
01:07:04,997 --> 01:07:09,771
The helicopter had come in and all
the trees and the bushes

993
01:07:09,831 --> 01:07:12,876
Blowing me around down there and
I had a hard time catching that.

994
01:07:12,936 --> 01:07:15,763
As I was going up I was just
going around and around.

995
01:07:15,823 --> 01:07:19,945
They were taking off because the
Vietcongs, they were shooting up at them.

996
01:07:20,005 --> 01:07:23,193
The guys up there had the machine guns,
not only on them but also on me, because

997
01:07:23,253 --> 01:07:25,017
they thought that I might be a Vietcong.

998
01:07:25,042 --> 01:07:26,892
They probably had
the same idea I had.

999
01:07:26,928 --> 01:07:29,464
Not recognizing Dieter as an American,

1000
01:07:29,524 --> 01:07:32,936
and fearing he might be a Vietcong
on a suicide mission,

1001
01:07:33,195 --> 01:07:37,949
a black corporal on board the helicopter
threw his weight of 300 pounds

1002
01:07:38,009 --> 01:07:42,815
upon the skeleton that was left of
Dieter, and wrestled him to the floor.

1003
01:07:43,046 --> 01:07:46,520
The previous day Dieter had seen a
snake swimming in the water,

1004
01:07:46,580 --> 01:07:49,047
and had bitten it in two from hunger.

1005
01:07:49,107 --> 01:07:50,844
Searching for explosives,

1006
01:07:50,904 --> 01:07:54,563
the corporal pulled out half a snake
from under Dieter's shirt.

1007
01:07:54,623 --> 01:07:58,976
It gave him such a shock that he fell
halfway out of the helicopter,

1008
01:07:59,036 --> 01:08:01,250
and had to be rescued himself.

1009
01:08:01,310 --> 01:08:04,082
So, as he started to pull
away and I saw you going in,

1010
01:08:04,107 --> 01:08:05,618
and the thing didn't blow up,

1011
01:08:05,654 --> 01:08:08,590
I gave a great sigh of relief,
I'll tell you that!

1012
01:08:08,650 --> 01:08:11,941
That scared me. I thought my career
would be over if that...

1013
01:08:12,001 --> 01:08:16,966
And as they went away I asked 'em if they
could identify you. And they said that

1014
01:08:17,026 --> 01:08:20,520
they didn't know who it was but he
claimed that he was a Navy lieutenant

1015
01:08:20,580 --> 01:08:22,809
that had been shot down
several months before.

1016
01:08:22,869 --> 01:08:25,764
And I'll tell you, my heart
gave a sigh of relief.

1017
01:08:39,862 --> 01:08:43,785
Dieter wanted to be back with the fleet,
back on his ship.

1018
01:08:45,619 --> 01:08:48,548
He had been taken to the
hospital in Danang.

1019
01:08:48,725 --> 01:08:52,947
He was safe now, but he was sure
this was only a dream.

1020
01:08:53,727 --> 01:08:56,588
For him, this was just a mirage.

1021
01:09:19,276 --> 01:09:23,294
He wanted to run, and they had
to tie him to his bed.

1022
01:09:23,465 --> 01:09:26,067
So, his friends came and snuck him out

1023
01:09:26,127 --> 01:09:28,599
and brought him back to the carrier.

1024
01:09:28,845 --> 01:09:31,691
The elevator took him down
to the hanger bay.

1025
01:09:31,751 --> 01:09:36,132
It was a drizzly day, and there had
been hardly anyone on deck.

1026
01:09:36,389 --> 01:09:40,653
But there was something strange,
something almost eerie about the fact

1027
01:09:40,713 --> 01:09:42,519
that no one was there.

1028
01:09:42,579 --> 01:09:45,978
Unknown to myself, the Admiral
had assembled about...

1029
01:09:46,767 --> 01:09:49,287
4000 people up here in the hanger bay.

1030
01:09:49,478 --> 01:09:51,601
They were waiting for
me and I was thinking

1031
01:09:51,626 --> 01:09:53,555
that nobody would
know that I was alive

1032
01:09:53,591 --> 01:09:57,295
That this was going to be a total
surprise. So, the airplane was...

1033
01:09:57,355 --> 01:10:00,673
The engine was turned off.
The airplane was pulled in here.

1034
01:10:00,733 --> 01:10:02,143
We came over here.

1035
01:10:02,203 --> 01:10:06,147
There was just a... load of these people.
4000 guys were waiting.

1036
01:10:06,207 --> 01:10:09,470
They opened... the door,
there was a red carpet.

1037
01:10:09,530 --> 01:10:11,717
And the yelling and the
screaming started.

1038
01:10:11,777 --> 01:10:15,517
It was such an emotional moment.
I just can't really describe it.

1039
01:10:15,577 --> 01:10:16,783
The tears!

1040
01:10:16,843 --> 01:10:20,678
All my friends that I'd been through
flight training with. Norman, Spook...

1041
01:10:20,977 --> 01:10:25,281
Farcas, Lizard. They all were there.
Tears were rolling... hugging.

1042
01:10:33,534 --> 01:10:36,858
And finally, I was on the aircraft
carrier, they were all my buddies.

1043
01:10:36,918 --> 01:10:39,736
The other pilots there, they did
everything they could for me.

1044
01:10:39,796 --> 01:10:42,563
It was just unreal.
The Admiral packed his bag.

1045
01:10:42,623 --> 01:10:46,083
He left. He said: "Dieter, my quarters
are your quarters." I slept in his bed.

1046
01:10:46,143 --> 01:10:48,501
At nights I would have dreams,
I would yell and scream.

1047
01:10:48,561 --> 01:10:51,307
My friends would tie me down, they
even got afraid of me sometimes.

1048
01:10:51,367 --> 01:10:54,234
So, they finally figured it out and they
would take me up in a cockpit.

1049
01:10:54,294 --> 01:10:57,258
At nights they would take me up
on top of the carrier deck

1050
01:10:57,318 --> 01:11:00,308
and they would pack me into a cockpit,
put two or three pillows next to me.

1051
01:11:00,368 --> 01:11:04,599
That's where I felt safe.
That's where I felt... truly, truly safe.

1052
01:11:05,048 --> 01:11:09,311
And then I would sleep in there. In fact,
later on when I was on different bases,

1053
01:11:09,371 --> 01:11:12,443
sometimes at nights I would come down
and I would go to an aircraft cockpit,

1054
01:11:12,503 --> 01:11:14,758
and I would just bed in there
and I would sleep in there.

1055
01:11:14,818 --> 01:11:16,978
And I brought you here to show
you all these airplanes.

1056
01:11:17,024 --> 01:11:19,769
I mean, this is a heaven for pilots.
I mean, just look around.

1057
01:11:19,829 --> 01:11:24,372
In every directions there's just miles,
and miles and miles of airplanes.

1058
01:11:24,432 --> 01:11:27,396
Everywhere! Here, miles and miles...

1059
01:11:27,456 --> 01:11:30,228
God! Look at the cockpits!
These are just fantastic!

1060
01:11:30,288 --> 01:11:32,694
These are just really, really,
truly beautiful.

1061
01:11:32,754 --> 01:11:36,725
And one could really feel at home here.
This is just a heaven for a pilot.