Dieter Dengler

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Dieter Dengler bigraphy, stories - Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Dieter Dengler : biography

May 22, 1938 – February 7, 2001

Dieter Dengler (May 22, 1938 – February 7, 2001) was a German-born United States Navy Naval aviator and pilot during the Vietnam War (and later a private aircraft test pilot and commercial airline pilot). He was one of two survivors (the other being Pisidhi Indradat), out of seven prisoners of war (POW)s, to escape from a Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos. He was rescued after 23 days on the run, Retrieved January 13, 2008. and was the first captured U.S. airman to escape enemy captivity during the Vietnam war, after six months of torture and imprisonment.Time magazine October 14, 1966

Shot down

On February 1, 1966, the day after the carrier began flying missions from Yankee Station, Lieutenant, Junior Grade Dengler launched from Ranger with three other aircraft on an interdiction mission against a truck convoy that had been reported in North Vietnam. Thunderstorms forced the flight to divert to their secondary target, a road intersection located west of the Mu Gia Pass in Laos. At the time, U.S. air operations in Laos were classified "secret." Visibility was poor due to smoke from burning fields, and upon rolling in on the target, LTJG Dengler and the remainder of his flight lost sight of one another. Dengler was the last man in and was hit by anti-aircraft fire. He managed to crash-land his Skyraider in Laos.

When his squadron mates realized that he had been downed, they remained confident that he would be rescued.

In film and literature

Dengler made an appearance as one of the contestants on the January 30, 1967 episode of the television game show I’ve Got a Secret. His secret, as told to host Steve Allen, was that he had escaped from a POW camp in Laos. Dengler said that his weight had dropped to 93 pounds by the time he was rescued. During this appearance, both of Dengler’s hands were bandaged in large casts. He explained that he had recently cut his tendons by accidentally falling through a sheet of plate glass.

In early 1968, Dengler was a contestant on the nighttime edition of the comedy game show Hollywood Squares.

Dengler appears in the 1988 documentary We Can Keep You ForeverReleased on VHS videocassette about the POW/MIA issue generally. The documentary was written and directed by Christopher Olgiati. Gerry DeBruin, brother of Eugene DeBruin, is also interviewed. Information in the documentary appears at greater length in the 1990 book The Bamboo Cage: The Full Story of the American Servicemen Still Missing in Vietnam by Nigel Cawthorne.

Dengler was the subject of Werner Herzog’s 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. Herzog went on to direct a dramatized version of the story, Rescue Dawn, which stars Christian Bale as Dengler. The film was shown at festivals throughout the end of 2006 and received a limited theatrical release in the USA on July 4, 2007, before the general release later that month. The film was released as a DVD in November 2007.

The movie Rescue Dawn was subjected to severe criticism by members of the family of Eugene DeBruin and Pisidhi Indradat, the other survivor of the group.

Herzog acknowledged that DeBruin acted heroically during his imprisonment, refusing to leave while some sick prisoners remained, but Herzog claimed to be unaware of this fact until after the film had been completed. Herzog states that this narrative aspect probably would have been included had he learned it earlier. DeBruin family members, however, said that Herzog was uninterested in speaking with them prior to the completion of the movie.Herzog, Werner, The Making of a True Story, documentary feature on the American DVD release of Rescue Dawn

Dengler documented his experience in the book Escape From Laos.

Bestselling author Bruce B. Henderson, who was serving on the same ship as Dengler at the time he was shot down, tells Dengler’s life story in a 2010 nonfiction book, Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War.