Chained Eagle: The true heroic story of eight-and-one-half years as a POW by the first American shot down over North Vietnam, by Everett Alvarez Jr. and Anthony S. Pitch
Donald J. Fine, 1989
308 pages. No index. 16 pages of b&w photos.
Description
Only one American pilot was held captive from Day One of the US aerial bombardment of North Vietnam until the POWS came home eight and a half years later, Lieutenant jg Everett Alvarez, Jr. Chained Eagle is the gripping narrative of his epic survival against all odds. TOld in a low-key style appropriate to its subject, it becomes the unique tale of a young newlywed's courageous struggle to stay alive, preserve his honor and maintain his sanity.
On August 5, 1964, the 26-year-old airman was catapulted off the deck of the USS Constellation in his A-4 fighter bomber as part of the first attack on targets inside of North Vietnam. After a successful run on the naval docks in Hon Gai Harbor, Alvarez turned to head back to the carrier. He never made it. HIs Skyhawk was hit by flak, it veered out of control and he was forced to eject from the crippled plane at low altitude.
How did Alvarez endure the beatings and torture that left him with permament damage to his jaw and forearm nerves; the loneliness and isolation that made him pound his cell walls and scream for human contacct, and a starvation diet that impelled him to pry open and eat live blackbirds.
Alvarez could have returned to his bride of seventh months within weeks of bailing out over the Gulf of Tonkin if he would only cooperate with his captors, trading a confession of "war crimes" and collaboration in anti-American propaganda in return for his freedom. But for nearly a decade he refused. Not even when, with his spirits at their lowest ebb, in the eighth year of his captivity, he learned that the woman he was still writing letters to had long since divorced him, remarried, and given birth to another man's child.
Who was-and is- this extraorginary man, raised in a humble home slightly larger than a log cabin, who would return home a decorated hero, garner several post graduate degrees and assume high-level posts in the government.
Everett Alvarez was born with a survivor's pedigree, stamped by his parents and grandparents during their own years as migrant workers in the fields, canneries, coal pits and seed warehouses of California. Grit, determination and a profound resolve became the hallmarks of his character. It is these qualities that allowed him to survive his ordeal-qualities that shine through in Chained Eagle- making it a classic of wartime literature in the Vietnam-or indeed any other-era.
