Customer Reviews

Escape From Laos

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On February 1, 1966 the American pilot Dieter Dengler (1938-2001) took enemy fire and crash-landed his plane in Laos while on a secret mission. After surviving in the jungle on his own he was captured, tortured (hung upside down with an ant nest around his neck, submerged in a well, dragged by an ox through a village), then taken on a three-week jungle trek to a Pathet Lao prison camp called Par Kung. Dengler recalls that it was nothing like he imagined a prison camp might be, but instead a tiny enclave of a few huts exactly twenty-one by twenty-two steps in size. There he met six other POWS, two American and four Asian (which later became a source of tension), who had been imprisoned as long as two and a half years. Later they were transferred to the very similar Hoi Het camp. When starvation threatened both the prisoners and the guards, and the prisoners overheard the guards saying that they planned to shoot them, they made an elaborate plan and escaped. The fellow POWS were separated after the escape, and Dengler and his buddy Duane Martin teamed up. Lice, leeches, ticks, ants ("the true torment of the jungle"), sweltering days and cold nights, torrential rain, dumb mistakes and incredibly good luck, and the human will to survive--these are only part of Dengler's first person narrative. Incredibly, after soldiering on for so long, Dengler and Martin stumbled onto some villagers, scared them, and in the space of a minute they had beheaded Duane. After surviving twenty-three days in the jungle after his escape, hallucinations, wandering in a circle, tumbling over water falls, and eating things you never should eat, Dengler was rescued in an improbable stroke of luck. He lost sixty pounds in the six-month ordeal. In 1997 Werner Herzog made a documentary about Dengler called Little Dieter Needs to Fly. More recently Herzog dramatized this survivor's tale in the film Rescue Dawn (2007). This is a gripping book that reminded me of Alfred Lansing's Endurance about Shackleton's Antarctic survival story.

I had met the author about 10 years ago through a family relative. Did not know of his hair raising Viet Nam saga until after several months later. I received a signed copy from him and started reading late one night. I had to pry the book out of my hands at 3 am. I finished the book the next evening. It is the most riveting account I have ever read. A tremendous account of triumph over an impossible situation. By a grateful friend.

This reviewer has read several P.O.W. tales. Each is disturbing yet stirring. Each paints a picture of physical and mental courage in face of overwhelming physical, military, personal odds. What sets "Escape from Laos" apart is the sheer mystery surrounding the Indochina war in that mysterious landlocked country. Even those of us who served in Vietnam (but were spared combat) can at least relate geographically to many stories. We could locate Cu Chi, An Khe and Khe Sanh on a map. But Laos? To orientate ourselves, EFL is the tale of a Navy Pilot, Dieter Dengler and his escape from a Pathet Lao POW camp in eastern Laos. My edition's one map shed no further geopgrapical light on the situation. Inferior maps no longer surprise this reviewer. Dengler escapes his surprisingly undisciplined guards easily enough. But what amazes the reader, almost boggles the mind, is the sheer geographical challenge he faced. Could remotest and wildest Vietnam be so brutal? And how did the guy feed himself in the bush and deal with the "animal creatures" encountered along the way. I wasn't aware-but surprised! - That the PL and VC tried to lure rescue choppers to their doom with phony escapees signaling for rescue. I also wasn't aware -but was surprised -that POWs ATE the rats they captured! We gave them to our mamasan to dump. Dengler (obviously) made it to freedom but his good news opens up another unpleasant subject. Over 500 men went missing in Laos. We know that our sniveling Ambassador to Vientiane, one William Sullivan, actively discouraged rescue operations. But only 10 men emerged alive from the 500! One was Dengler.9 more were released but via HANOI! Where are the others? At the time of this review, 377 men remain unaccounted for in Laos. It is sad and strange that such a wonderful tale has to share such an unpleasant spotlight but we simply cannot ignore the other MIAs. Yet the bottom line here is Dengler. His heroic escape should be an inspiration to all of us. He is a shining credit to this country and to the Navy. Period!

Mine will be the eleventh review of this book and consistent with my reviewing colleagues, I too give this masterpiece a 5-star rating. So, Dieter, wherever you are, you are 11 for 11. Not too shabby. (For those of you who didn't know, Dieter passed away in 2001 from ALS.)

But what's so good about it? In a word, honesty. He simply told it like it happened, confident the story would do the work. No bluster, no bravado, and best of all, it does not read like a medal citation the way so many first-hand accounts of this genre do. Just simple honesty.

A collateral benefit of this story is how different we modern westerners are from the Third World. Today, we struggle over dealing with unsavory characters, whether torture can play a valid role in the 'War on Terror,' whether it's okay to incarcerate someone without due process. People of the Third World would think those issues are absurd, they have no such issues, might is right. I hope we continue to struggle and I hope we ultimately get the right answer because I shudder to think what kind of a nation we would become if we allow ourselves to lapse into the Third World's law of the bush.

Third worlders aren't all bad. Dieter himself was surprised at the impact the occasional act of kindness had on him as he moved through his gaunlet of horror. And these acts were by no means casual. If the perpetrators had been caught, they would have been severely punished, possibly executed.

Bottom line: if you have a copy, keep it safe. This book is not likely to be reprinted anytime soon.

-- Ejner Fulsang, author of "A Knavish Piece of Work," Aarhus Publishing

As a US Navy SEAL in the post-Viet Nam era, I had heard Dengler's name often mentioned as a pioneer in the development of survival, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) training. I was fascinated by reading about Dengler's actual experiences; those same events and challenges that were so costly for him personally but that provided a cornerstone in the training of others who may one day face similar trials.

Approximately 600 American pilots were shot down in Laos, but just 10 or so came out alive. Mr. Dengler's account is like a vivid nightmare. I read it years ago after discovering it at the library and have never forgotten it. It's even more haunting to think of the fate of those pilots who survived yet never escaped.

This is a fantastic (almost unbelievable) book that should be read by every high school student in this country. This is an exceptional story illustrating what Vietnam War POW's had to endure. Mr Dengler is a hero and a credit to the Navy and our Armed Services. Awesome!! His determination to escape from his captors and return home was truly inspirational. I hope to meet this man and shake his hand someday.

Having already heard this account of the horrors encountered by Dieter many years ago and once again last spring, the book is just as the author tells it in person, full of viciousness by his tormentors, the amazing trek through the jungle, and the brilliance of this prisoner's mind, despite the odds against him, in having studied his captors' environmental adaptation and using what he learned to enable his own against-all-odds fight to live. This man practised survival under all circumstances during his entire life and possessed an uncanny ability to recognize danger even before it materialized. Through his ingenuity he alone conquered the enemy and the elements and this makes for such a fascinating tale. It is survival at its purest and most admirable. A man and a mission never to be forgotten.

As a Vietnam veteran and personal friend of Dieter's, I was facinated by this book and his ability to overcome the incredible odds to escape to freedom. It showed true courage!

I'm a sixteen-year USAF pilot now working staff as a safety magazine editor. Working an article on jungle survival where I want to reference this book. A truly amazing story of courage, perseverance, and survival. Must-read for anyone, and certainly for those with an interest in survival, evasion, recovery, and escape (SERE).