Defiant
The POWs Who Endured Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison, the Women Who Fought for Them, and the One Who Never Returned
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Narrated by:
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Joe Barrett
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By:
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Alvin Townley
About this listen
The story of the indomitable American POWs who endured "Alcatraz", the Hanoi prison camp where North Vietnam locked up its most dangerous and subversive prisoners, and the wives who fought to bring them home.
During the Vietnam War, hundreds of American prisoners of war faced years of brutal conditions and horrific torture at the hands of communist interrogators who ruthlessly plied them for military intelligence and propaganda. Determined to maintain their code of conduct, the inmates of the Hanoi Hilton and other POW camps developed a powerful underground resistance. To quash it, the North Vietnamese singled out its eleven leaders, Vietnam's own "dirty dozen", and banished them to an isolated jail that would become known as Alcatraz. None would leave its solitary cells and interrogation rooms unscathed; one would never leave.
As these men suffered in Hanoi, their wives launched an extraordinary campaign that would ultimately spark the POW/MIA movement. When the survivors finally returned, one would receive the Medal of Honor, another became a U.S. Senator, and a third still serves in Congress. A story of survival and triumph in the vein of Unbroken and Band of Brothers, Defiant will inspire anyone wondering how courage, faith, and brotherhood can endure even in the darkest of situations.
©2014 Alvin Townley (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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"Defiant is a riveting tribute to the unyielding men who endured years of brutal captivity as POWs in Vietnam and the families they left behind. The men of the ‘Alcatraz Eleven’ are true American heroes and their extraordinary stories will serve as an inspiration for generations to come." (Senator John McCain, POW, 1965-1973)
"In a fast-flowing narrative replete with reconstructed dialogue, Townley writes reverently of these POWs." (Publishers Weekly)
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This is the bizarre tale of 12 young American soldiers who are deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2006. Rather than fight the enemy in combat, the men are unexpectedly assigned to guard the country's notorious leader - Saddam Hussein - in the months leading to his execution. Living alongside and caring for their "high-value detainee" in a former palace dubbed The Rock and regularly transporting him to his raucous trial, many of the men begin questioning some of their most basic assumptions.
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Saddam As An Avuncular Old Man? Hmmm...
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At the end of World War II, American army officer Captain Sean O’Sullivan is commissioned with rebuilding Berlin. Reeling from the death of his brothers at German hands and faced with the direct horrors of the Holocaust, O’Sullivan struggles against his animosity towards the nation he is helping restore. Meanwhile, Soviet forces blockade Germany in a bid for power, and the Western Allies must unite to prevent a communist takeover. When the airlift begins, the Allies find their deepest convictions tested as they fight against a threat even more dangerous than Hitler.
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Legendary author
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Their names were Bob Palmer, Gordy Cox, Tim McCoy, and Chuck Vervalin, and in 1941, when they joined the Navy, they were not trying to prove their patriotism - they were just looking for a job that would provide "three hots and a cot". But on April 22, 1943, the war took a terrible turn for them. Their submarine, the USS Grenadier, was torpedoed. Listed as lost in action and given up for dead, all four had in fact miraculously escaped, only to be captured by the Japanese.
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Prisoner of War Tale
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The dramatic account of one of America's most celebrated - and controversial - military campaigns: the Doolittle Raid. In December 1941, as American forces tallied the dead at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gathered with his senior military counselors to plan an ambitious counterstrike against the heart of the Japanese Empire: Tokyo.
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Vengence is Mine, Thus Sayeth Doolittle
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A naive young man, a railway enthusiast and radio buff, was caught up in the fall of the British Empire at Singapore in 1942. He was put to work on the 'Railway of Death' - the Japanese line from Thailand to Burma. Exhaustively and brutally tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio, Lomax was emotionally ruined by his experiences.
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From hatred to forgiveness
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In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking, ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and twenties.
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Mesmerizing book
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At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, 15-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain.
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What courage and determination...
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In November 1970, a storm set a collision course with the most densely populated coastline on Earth. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. The Vortex is the dramatic story of how that storm sparked a country to revolution.
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One of the Best books this year!
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Here is the astonishing, never-before-told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II: when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines. During a bombing campaign, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian villagers risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers, and for months the airmen lived in hiding, waiting for rescue.
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an amazing tale
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In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape.
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Another chapter of history brought to life by a master
- By Steve on 09-28-22
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Five Years to Freedom
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When Green Beret Lieutenant James N. Rowe was captured in 1963 in Vietnam, his life became more than a matter of staying alive. In a Vietcong POW camp, Rowe endured beri-beri, dysentery, and tropical fungus diseases. He suffered grueling psychological and physical torment. He experienced the loneliness and frustration of watching his friends die. And he struggled every day to maintain faith in himself as a soldier and in his country as it appeared to be turning against him.
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My neighbor and friend
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The Assassination of Heydrich
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If you only listen to one book about what it felt like to be present during the worst time in modern human history, a time when your life could be snuffed out for having the mere thought of opposition against the Nazi regime, this should be the book. It is told by survivors and by one of the greatest survivors of them all, Jan Wiener.
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Hard to listen to
- By Amazon Customer on 01-26-23
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The Jersey Brothers
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They are three brothers, all navy men, who end up coincidentally and extraordinarily at the epicenter of three of the war's most crucial moments. Bill is picked by Roosevelt to run his first map room in Washington. Benny is the gunnery and antiaircraft officer on the USS Enterprise, one of the only carriers to escape Pearl Harbor and by the end of 1942 the last one left in the Pacific to defend against the Japanese. Barton, the youngest and least distinguished of the three, is shuffled off to the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm's way.
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Brothers Unbroken
- By Gillian on 05-12-17
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What listeners say about Defiant
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ruth
- 02-18-16
Wonderful story of survival & faith
Unbelievable story of survival and how faith helped the captives through incredible hardship. And the need for human contact i
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- tysfamily
- 03-07-15
Exceptional
Incredible story of endurance. Well written and read. God bless those who sacrificed so much for the rest of us.
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- Matt Outlaw
- 05-27-15
Story of heroes.
Great book about American POW's in Vietnam. Highly recommend. Amazing men that underwent unimaginable torture.
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- Rob
- 01-29-24
Return with Honor
This was a hard book to listen to, but if those heroes endured what they did I was able to finish. The writing was good, as was the narrator. Thanks to all involved.
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- Chris Baldwin
- 03-01-14
A Story Every American Needs to Know
What about Joe Barrett’s performance did you like?
Excellent narration. Narrator's voice was pleasing & easy to hear. Inserted some character inflections from time-to-time but at no point did the narrator try to 'compete' with the story itself. I would be happy to listen to another novel by this narrator.
Any additional comments?
For all the attention that has been showered upon WWII POW's (and rightly so), few Americans are as familiar with the narratives of Vietnam POW's. This book brings to life their stories in compelling and heart-wrenching fashion. It is a hard listen but an exceptional one. Equally as compelling are the stories of the POW's wives, who launched the POW / MIA movement in response to their husbands' captures and poor treatment. The author does a great job of interweaving these stories in a telling and timely manner. Extremely well-researched and extremely well-written account.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Daryl
- 08-05-14
Unforgetable history, biography, inspirational
What did you love best about Defiant?
I loved the resilliance of these men, who supported each other through depravations of food, contact, water, cleanliness... their defiance by creating a code to communicate - sometimes behind the guards' back, sometimes with their averted eyes.
The torture depictions were difficult to listen to, but they were not grotesque for the sake of shock.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Defiant?
The homecoming, but even some days in the jail where some members were feeling so guilty for "breaking the code", the support they offered each other was so touching that I teared up.
What does Joe Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I fully agree with the reviewers who said he told the story with incflection and feeling, but did not compete with a strong narrative that stands on its own.
Any additional comments?
This book, though not easy to read, it unforgetable and unputdownable. I knew very little of the Vietnam war, since many histories have been written about WWI and WWII (and rightfully so). Read it!
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1 person found this helpful
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- ELAINE D. MOSBURG
- 09-07-17
A wife of a pow that never came home
This book was very descriptive. As I listened to the book I could not imagine the
The suffering my love had to indured. The wives of these prisoners were so together
Like these wives I have been told by the Army, do not talk to the news papers, no
Public interviews,etc. When one of my husband's who was working for a Alabama
congressman in 1966, was helping me to find out any information, due to the fact that the Army would no. This congressional, had an uncle who was a Senator of Alabama hand also been made available to me. Both of these gallant southern gentlemen were so
comforting. When the Army learned of this, I was summoned to the office of the then
Army Base, then knows as Ft. MacArthur, in San Pedro, California, at this time it no longer
Exists. I was told that if I did not stop talking to these persons, I would loose my facial
support and they would make sure of that. I had just turned 24, 5 months pregnant
With our second daughter, I did not know better and could not really on the Army because
they sure would help. In those days of 1966, the Government wanted this to go away
and it has no changed. They just tell you what you want to hear.
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- C. Cloherty
- 01-24-22
best pow book and I've read and listened to many
vivid descriptions of the living conditions, savage physical and prolonged psychological torture. punctuate years contorted in claustrophobic 4×6 cells. I honestly appreciate things more after having listened to this. I don't often leave comments but this is a great listen. Those men are absolute Heros I can't believe they have to pay taxes. Semper fi
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- Rick
- 02-22-14
Wow! All I can say is Wow!
I truly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in US history, Military History, or anyone looking to learn about the Vietnam War, the Hanoi Hilton, and the Americans who would call it home for 8+ years. What a read!
From the start, this book had my attention. I couldn’t put it down! This is the comprehensive history of POW servicemen during the Vietnam War and how they endured thru torture and mistreatment, eventually returning home as (mentally) strong and courageous as they were when they were taken prisoner. Each one of these men and their wives who were stalwart fixtures on the home front should be honored as heroes and patriots, and should be saluted by each American. They’ve earned it!
When captured, provide only your name, rank, and service number. That’s what these men did only to be tortured and beaten beyond human endurance. And even after the many beatings and deprivation, each one of them was able to endure solitary confinement (for some, as many as 8 years) without giving in to their Vietnam captors, defiant to the end. And in that time they were able deceive the camp authorities by creating a form of communication “Tap Code”, which allowed them to keep up with one another while in confinement.
After I completed the book I went online and was able to view a couple of YouTube videos from some of the veterans who survived as POW’s in Vietnam and the dialog was just as fascinating. To actually see the “Tap Code” being performed, and then to comprehend that another could easily decipher what was being said will floor you! This innovation is just another way of defining the resilience of American servicemen in captivity during the Vietnam War.
The orator did a good job with voice inflection and accents and was able to keep me listening. This is an excellent book, cover to cover and will give a mere glimpse of what these men went thru while the government took their time in gaining their release. Do yourself a favor and add this to your library. You will not be disappointed!
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- Denise
- 06-02-21
I recommend this book
One of the best pow books. Well narrated. I was in Vietnam from 1968-1970 and thought about POWs and how they were expected to not give the enemy any information. But what would you do if tortured and treated like an animal?
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