Tiger Cage: An Untold Story [Paperback]

D. E. Bordenkircher (Author), S. A. Bordenkircher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1998

As an immediate response, to a threat from Hanoi and the Viet Cong concerning the well-being of American POW's, the United States put into place men and means to help the plight of Americans held by the enemy. TIGER CAGE is the story of that effort, the Americans who did it, the Americans who fouled it, and the lie that lives on as the truth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

New Book Shatters 30 Years Of Myth. It's true, most people would just as soon forget all about the war in Vietnam. But history won't go away, and controversy continues to swirl. Countless accounts have been written about the conflict and myriad films have been made.

But people shouldn't believe everything they read, and that's exactly the point behind Tiger Cage--An Untold Story, a shockingly revealing new book about how the press was manipulated into misleading the American public about the treatment of prisoners in Vietnam.

Howard Cosell used to pride himself on "telling it like it is," and that's exactly what Don and Shirley Bordenkircher have done in Tiger Cage. Bordenkircher, who has served as a warden at three maximum-security prisons, was stationed in Vietnam from 1967 to 1972. During that time he held the position of Senior Advisor to the South Vietnamese Director of Corrections, and in this capacity he observed firsthand what went on at the 41 correctional centers, and especially at the prison on Con Son Island.

In 1970, a group including a freelance journalist and a Congressional aide (now U.S. Senator Tom Harkin), visited Con Son Island with the express purpose of seeing the notorious Tiger Cages. The word was that these were practically primitive cells for housing prisoners. The stories to the press emanating from this visit presented a terribly distorted view of the correctional facilities in Vietnam.

As Bordenkircher writes in his introduction, "The Tiger Cage story put out in 1970 stands as one of the most successful operations ever undertaken by Hanoi's Department of Psychological Warfare."

At the prodding of his wife, who wrote and edited the book, Bordenkircher finally decided to break his long silence in the matter to tell the story he believes needs to be told. The result is a painstakingly researched account of what conditions at Con Son Island were really like in 1970.

The book begins with Bordenkircher's arrival in Vietnam and proceeds to chronicle the events leading up to and including the infamous Tiger Cage incident. Bordenkircher literally takes the reader along with him as he tours the various correctional facilities and maps out strategies for improving them. And he doesn't paint a pretty picture.

For example, the following is the way he describes some of the physical facilities: "There were numerous features of the physical plants which were in dire need of improvement. But the kitchens were, without a doubt, in the greatest need. While two or three of the kitchens were clean, well lighted, and ventilated, the remainder were dirty, dark, and usually in a bad state of repair. Each boasted a horrendous fly population. It was commonplace, nearly mandatory, to put a handkerchief over your nose and mouth to assure you wouldn't inhale flies."

Bordenkircher pulls no punches as he recounts the successes and failures of his mission in Vietnam. He includes you in his fascinating tour of duty, and when you finally learn the truth behind the Tiger Cage incident, you'll be as shocked, appalled, and enraged as Bordenkircher himself.

Tiger Cage is not a book for the faint of heart because the Bordenkirchers spare no detail in describing certain prison conditions and various punishments inflicted on prisoners. Reading parts of this book often is tantamount to watching a particularly bloody boxing match in that we are at once horrified and mesmerized.

Another thing Bordenkircher has done is supplement the narrative with a copious supply of photographs. Although he succeeds quite well in describing various places throughout the book, the photographs provide a nice complement to the text by giving the reader a visual perception of the war's atmosphere. The book also features a number of appendices containing informative diagrams and the complete text of important documents.

Tiger Cage may not be what those who used the incident to their own advantage want to see in print. But it's a story the American people should know, and Bordenkircher is to be commended for telling it. -- William W. Hanna, Professor English/Communication, and Director of College Publications, West Liberty State College, West Liberty, West Virginia; and movie critic. News-Register, February 23, 1998.

From the Publisher

This is a story so unusual and so full of emotion that even though the setting is Vietnam (a place currently out of vogue in book publishing) it grabs you. We had to publish it. It's not about Vietnam, really, it only happens there. Readers will be surprised.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Abby Publishing (March 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966177142
• ISBN-13: 978-0966177145
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,155,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will make you angry., June 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tiger Cage: An Untold Story (Paperback)

When the authors sent this book to us (POW/MIA FORUM website) for review and we thumbed through it, our first thought was,"What does this have to do with the POW/MIA issue?"

Well, we started reading this book. And what we found was an effort by the United States at alleviating the conditions that ou r POWs suffered through at the hands of the communists by improving the conditions of the prisons in South Vietnam; the prisons that held criminally or civilly incarcerated inmates.

Don Bordenkircher was hired by the United States Agency for International Development - Office of Public Safety, (USAID/OPS), from the administrative ranks of San Quentin Prison in 1967 as Senior US Advisor to the [ South Vietnam's] Director of Corrections to implement the improvement of South Vietnam's prison system.

Some of South Vietnam's 41 prisons did hold Communist prisoners. But they were not considered POWs.

Con Son Island, a South Vietname se penal colony in the South China Sea is the major setting for this book which highlights the total betrayal of American efforts in Vietnam by Americans from home.

Don Bordenkircher, a Corrections Department professional was hired in 1967 from the administrative ranks of San Quentin Prison by the United States Agency for International Development - Office of Public Safety, (USAID/OPS), as Senior Advisor to the South Vietnamese Director of Corrections and his forty-one correctional centers. One of which was Con Son Island. He would spend the next five years in this capacity. His mission was simple: Teach the South Vietnamese how to operate a humane correctional program and it would send a message to the North which may have reciprocated by treating our POWs humanely.

While the mission statement may have been simple, the mission was not--and this was not due to South Vietnamese resistance toward humane treatment of prisoners.

William Colby, Tom Harkin, (now Senator Harkin), Don Luce and the world press, especially the American press, all play a major part in betraying the true US effort and one must wonder if power, greed or 15 minutes of fame were the culprits! Interstingly, Harkin was paid $10,000.00 for his story, in advance of his leaving on this Congressional Delegation. This book may not be about American Prisoners of War, but yet it is as much about them as it is about betrayal. For in the end, there is the factor that if South Vietnam treated its incercerated poorly, then North Vietnam would retaliate.

Don Bordenkircher together with his co-workers should be commended for the job that they did in Vietnam for the 5 years he was there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Primary reason for American's Defeat in Viet Nam, October 1, 2007

By 

Andrew Best ""El Chorizo"" (Goodyear, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tiger Cage: An Untold Story (Paperback)

After 34 years service as a police officer, foreign police advisor and prison police officer I can attest to the truth contained in "Tiger Cage". I would change the sub-title to "An Inconvienent Truth". At 72 years of age I am disconcerted by the re-rage I felt while reading the Bordenkircher book.

I am one of the victims of the slaughter of the Office Of Public Safety - and although I survived and eventually retired after my service - I am amazed that I can still feel a pain in my throat and in my heart at the terrible injustice caused by the surrender in Viet Nam.

In 1967 I volunteered for the foreign police advisory service in Viet Nam while on a "rising star" path at the Phoenix Police Department. While in Washington D.C. for orientation the brass discovered that I could speak Spanish so they diverted me to Latin America.

However, I am fully cognizant of the perfidious lying and misrepresentation that caused the demise of the Foreign Police Advisory Program.(Office of Public Safety)

Don Bordenkircher and his beautiful wife Shirley have produced a very important history lesson in their book. It is interesting to note that most persons agree, "knowing history can help prevent past mistakes". I have provided copies of the Tiger Cage for my children in the hopes they (and others) will absorb what can happen when the lib's control the press and they in turn incite panic with lies causing the Congress to go ballistic.

America lost the war in Viet Nam - but we never lost a battle there! Carter gave away Iran at a time when that country was well on the road to democracy. Carter did the same thing in Nicaragua and then for good measure gave away the Panamá canal.

Andrew Best, Phoenix, Arizona [e-mail]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fast-paced documentary that reads like a novel., October 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tiger Cage: An Untold Story (Paperback)

We lived through Vietnam oblivious to what was really happening, believing what we were told by the media without question. Tiger Cage made us acutely aware of how little we really knew and understood about what happened in Vietnam. Suspence, intrigue, and emotion were key elements for us as we read Tiger Cage. We found ourselves becoming totally involved with the people and events in this historical documentary. The acronyms which initially confused both of us became unimportant as we were caught up in the emotions of brutality (man against man) -- emotionally, politically, and physically. We were appalled at the total misrepresentation of the event which has become accepted as gospel for the past thirty years. Thank goodness this story, and others like it, are finally coming to the surface. In short, --- We all need to pay attention to events around us and not be so willing to accept what we are told without questioning. Tiger Cage reinforced our resolve to do this.