Customer Reviews

Why Didn't You Get Me Out?: The Story of Vietnam's Longest Held P.O.W.

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The 525th Military Intelligence Group (525MIG), which supported Military Intelligence (MI) efforts in Vietnam was a maze of political infighting, enormous potential, a deep pool of talent, and daily petty bickering. The POW mission was assigned to the 6th BN, 525MIG, which was a unilateral covert intelligence collection element. Other battalions and detachments had periperial responsibilities. Those of us who were young counterintelligence agents, mostly sergeants, lived on the edge during our one-year tour. Most of us worked hard. Cases such as that of Mr. Anton's were the most difficult to understand. Mainly we would task our human sources, receive information and pass that information onto higher headquarters in the form of Intelligence Research Reports (IRRs). We never received any feedback as to the value of the information collected. We worked hard to find you, Mr. Anton, we really did! Somewhere after the reports left the hands of the ground-pounding, doorbell ringing, CI Special Agents, the Politicians took over. I am sorry, Chief, I truly am sorry about what happened to you and the others you wrote about. I did my best but it wasn't good enough. [SSG (E6),MOS 97B40, CI Special Agent; 1st Bn, 525MIG, DaNang, 1967-1968]

In January of 1968, helicopter pilot Warrant Officer Frank Anton was shot down in Southern Vietnam and spent 5 years in captivity. Many prominent books have been written of U.S. POW's in Hanoi's prisons but this story is a riveting look at POW's held in prison camps in Southern Vietnam which may have been worse.

Frank Anton has written a very detailed and graphic account of severly brutal conditions and treatments he and others suffered at the hands of the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. For 3 of his 5 years in confinement in the south (he spent time in 4 different camps), he weaves a harrowing tale of torture, starvation, non-existent medical treatment, disease, and barbarity suffered by prisoners. He further adds that during his confinement, he was witness to many Americans dying in the camps and also of betrayal and enemy collaboration by one of their own.

After 3 years of confinement in the south, Anton and the surviving members of his camp, in an incredible display of courage, strength, and determination, are forced to march on foot for an astonishing 6 months to one of Hanoi's prison camps known as the Plantation. For an additional 2 years, this was Anton's new home before being released from captivity in 1973.

Upon arriving home, Frank Anton was debriefed by the military and he eventually found out, to his dismay and horror, that our government know exactly where he was the entire time he was being held and that no serious attempts were considered to rescue him or his fellow soldiers.

In the last chapter of this book, which is absolutely astonishing, you will find out why no attempts were made to rescue many POW's. Additionally, you will learn the current fate of large numbers of POW's that were left behind and are currently unaccounted for in Vietnam. This information is highly disturbing and tragic and paints a very callous and unscrupulous portrait of our government with their regard to our missing servicemen.

This book is exceptionally good and comes highly recommended. As a side note, Pfc Robert Garwood (possibly the most notorious U.S. POW collaborator of the Vietnam war) is featured prominently in parts of this book. For those interested in the complete story of Robert Garwood, you would be well rewarded by reading "Conversations With The Enemy: The Story of Pfc Robert Garwood" by Winston Groom and Duncan Spencer.

This is a powerful book that gets to the heart of what it was like to have been a POW in the jungles of South Vietnam. Anton's account is a remarkable account; a gut-wrenching story that will take you to the edge on a very real nightmare, teach you something about perseverence, and give you hope. It is a story that must be included in any war books you have on your shelves. I urge you to buy this book.

Frank Anton was captured by the VietCong when his helicopter was shot down by deadly accurate anti-aircraft fire. He was held prisoner in three of the worst death camps in South VietNam, and was able to survive three years of jungle captivity while ten of his fellow prisoners died of disease, starvation, and torture. An aramda of American rescue helicopters approached his jungle prison but didn't complete the mission - why? It would take years after his release from an additional two of years of being a prisoner of the North Vietnamese in Hanoi before Frank would know why they didn't get him out. A powerful book, one that will bring most readers to tears as even the strongest men give up the will to live another day in their jungle hell

This book is quite different from what folks might come to expect from a "war" book. This story brings the raw truth of the personal account of being a soldier and captured. I agree with another reviewer that this account is completely different in that it is about an Army pilot being imprisoned in South Vietnam before being sent up the Ho Chi Minh trail to the North. The years of endurance and emotional drain are hard to even imagine. And then, in the end, find out that your military knew of your locations and only took your picture! Hanoi Jane could do no worse. I served with a sister unit of the 71st in the 178th Boxcars at Chu Lai and was in country when Frank was captured(though we didn't know it that time}. I was getting ready to go home in just a few weeks - Frank's tour got extended by 5 years. Sorry Frank, if we knew where you were it would have been different or we would have been dead. I have the highest respect for this story, the truth, Frank and all the POWs who served their country but the "higher ups" could have done alot more to help but choose only to "observe" instead of have the guts the POWs did. Read this book and put yourself in Frank's shoes and you would ask the same question he did - AND he's right!

Frank Anton's story of captivity in unique among Vietnam POW tales. Most previous Vietnam POW stories have been written by Air Force or Navy pilots shot down over North Vietnam and held captive in Hanoi jail cells. Anton was captured and held in South Vietnamese and Laotion jungle prison camps for 3 years. He then made the long march north to Hanoi where he was captive for another 2 years. His experiences with other American prisoners held in jungle camps (average group of 17), many of who did not survive, is heart rendering and obsorbing. In spite of the title the book is not a political essay on the conduct of the war, or a bitter tirade about not being rescued. This is a warm story about the human suffering of a small group of US soldiers who spent a part of their life in hell. Paul J. Kratz, US Army (retired) Vietnam '66-67, & '70-71.

In life we regard a hero as someone who has done something great. For example Michael Jordan is a hero to many because of his basketball prowess. In life there's another kind of hero and Frank Anton is one of those.

An extreme pleasure to read the words of a man who spent over five years in the worse kind of hell imaginable, a POW in Viet Nam. Anton's book is more than words on paper it's a living testimony to those who served.

Follow along and you'll find yourself living out the horrific condition he was subjected to. You read about Bobby Garwood and how he turned on his fellow prisoners. Most of all you stop to catch your breath.

From the depths of despair to the ecstasy of coming home, Frank Anton shows that heroes don't always make a thunderous entrance. In fact, those that survived and those left behind are the real heroes. 10 Stars!

There is no way I can summerize what Frank Anton went through. To say it was hell would be a gross understatement. A must read not only for Frank's story but for the truth about Bobby Garwood (traitor without a doubt), and how our government knew where Frank was being held in South Vietnam for three years and did nothing about it. Frank recalls one particularly poignant moment; "The day before Thanksgiving, as Kushner cradled him (Grissett) in his arms as he had the other three (prisoners who recently died), he looked up at Doc and said, `Tell my mom that I love her.' Then, with his dying breath, he whispered his last words, the words I will never, ever forget: `Wake me when it's over.'" Grissett became the forth man to die in 1968. Not since reading Dieter Dengler's "Escape from Laos" have I read about such barbaric treatment. You will be brought to tears while reading this book and there are too many startling revelations to recount here. This book is priceless!

I have to credit Frank Anton for going on with his life to continue and retire as a US Army Warrant Officer. Not one time did I get the sense that Frank dwells in the relm of self-pity or of being a victim. Had he fallen into such traps, he would never have been able to make something of his life. Frank Anton deserves to be heard. Tom Payne RVN 66-67, Bandit32

Frank Anton waited 25 years before writing his POW memoirs. A tale so horrible that most citizens will refuse to believe it. Unfortunately, the citizenry of this nation has become apathetic, hedonistic, materialistic, mentally drugged, that exposing the individuals responsible for the criminal behavior described by Anton in his book is probably impossible.