Ted Poe: “It was dusk when he left Thailand and entered Laotian airspace. Soon he was flying into North Vietnam as darkness came…”

“It was dusk when he left Thailand and entered Laotian airspace. Soon he was flying into North Vietnam as darkness came over the horizon. It was his 25th mission into North Vietnam flying an F-4 Phantom jet. The date was April 16, 1966. The pilot was Sam Johnson, United States Air Force colonel, and he was doing his second tour of duty in Vietnam. He was flying with the fighter squadron called Satan's Angels. He was a career pilot who had already flown 62 combat missions during the Korean War flying an F-86 Sabre jet. Colonel Johnson also flew with the famed Air Force Thunderbirds. This day of April 16th, 1966, Colonel Johnson was shot down by ground fire from the North Vietnamese. He was captured, he was put in a prisoner of war camp, and, Mr. Speaker, he was in that POW camp for 7 years. Because of the way that he would not give in to the torture and to the interrogation, they moved him to the famous 'Hanoi Hilton' and a place called 'Alcatraz.' Alcatraz was where 11 POWs were put because they were the most obstinate POWs, leaders of the other POWs. They were hard-nosed and they had to be segregated, and they called themselves the 'Alcatraz gang.' They were defiant, and the North Vietnamese called this man right here 'Die Hard.' They tortured him, but they got no information from him. During those 7 years he was beaten and tortured, but he never broke down.”