Showing posts with label Prison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prison. Show all posts

Monday, May 3, 2010

Doug Hegdahl's POW story



People ask me why I blog and I really don't have a valid answer. And then I find an amazing true  story like the one over at Nobody Asked Me and I realise just what it is that keeps me sharing and caring on the interwebs.

Its a story I've never heard before about a POW in Vietnam, how he got there and how he got out. Here is a short excerpt from the tale;

Christmas in Vietnam, 1967In trying to get people to accept early propaganda releases, the Communists would have some "good cop" interrogator like the ones we called the "Soft Soap Fairy" talk to the prospect and sound him out for pliability. They got Doug one day and asked what we eventually learned to be the lead question: "What do you want more than anything else in the world?" The answer of the weak and willing was : "To go home to my family." Doug thought for a long time, then cocked his head with a smile and said "Why, I'd like a pillow, Sir." This was not an unreasonable response since we had no pillows on our cement pads or bed boards. However, the response sure confounded the enemy. They eventually came up with a name for Doug amongst the guards and interrogators: "The Incredibly Stupid One." His original resistance ploy had paid off.

Because they thought him stupid, they would let him go out in the cell block courtyard during the siesta to sweep up the grounds period monitored by only one sleepy, peasant guard. I thought that was great since it kept him from skipping and I could get some rest. However, curiosity got the better of me and I started to watch him through a peephole we had bored in the cell door. He'd go sweeping and humming until the guard was lulled to sleep. Then Doug would back up to a truck, spin the gas cap off the standpipe, stoop down and put a small amount ("Small, because it's going to be a long war, Sir.") of dirt in the gas tank and replace the cap. I watched him over a period of time do this to five trucks.

Now, I'm a liberal arts major who shot himself down, so all I can do is report what I saw. There were five trucks working in the prison; I saw Doug work on five trucks; I saw five trucks towed disabled out of the prison camp. Doug Hegdahl, a high school graduate from the mess decks fell off a ship and has five enemy trucks to his credit. I am a World Famous Golden Dragon (VA 192) with two college degrees, 2000 jet hours, 300 carrier landings and 22 combat missions. How many enemy trucks do I have to my credit? Zero. Zip. Nada. De Rien. 0. Who's the better man? Douglas Brent Hegdahl, one of two men I know of who destroyed enemy military equipment while a prisoner of war.
So go here and read the whole story. And tell the Old NFO that Jumblerant sent you.

 kthanxbai!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Facebook Alibi Saves Jailed Teenager

Over on Sky News (aka Fox in a British accent) there is a charming story about a teenager who is jailed for a crime but has a Facebook entry as his alibi;

Rodney Bradford spent 12 days in prison after being arrested on suspicion of holding up two people close to his home in Brooklyn.

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...Image via CrunchBase

But the 19-year-old was eventually released after an update on the social networking site placed him at his father's flat across town in Harlem.

The whole article can be found here

And what kind of update did the young bastion of society send?

'Rodney Bradford is'....
upset at world hunger
going out with the guys
lol-ing at Glee

No, Rodney Bradford's jail breaking message on Facebook was 'where my IHop?'. The message was intended for his pregnant girlfriend who he hoped would cook him breakfast.

IHOP The International House of PancakesImage via Wikipedia


For that alone I would throw him back in the slammer! Too lazy to make your own breakfast, but up and about and faffing around on Facebook? 21 days your honor!!

kthanxbai!