Under the Cover of Light
The Extraordinary Story of USAF COL Thomas "Jerry" Curtis's 7 1/2 -Year Captivity in North Vietnam
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jonathan Yen
About this listen
In 1965, Col. Thomas "Jerry" Curtis's helicopter was shot down over North Vietnam. He was immediately captured and spent seven and a half years confined in a filthy cell at the notorious Hanoi prison camp. Thousands of miles from home and unable to communicate with his wife and children, Jerry endured months of solitary confinement, suffocating heat, freezing cold, grueling physical and psychological torture, constant hunger, and unimaginable mental duress.
And yet, time and again, the Light that darkness cannot overcome became his beacon of hope. Now, for the first time, Jerry shares the full story of his 2,703 days in captivity and what he learned about faith, hope, and the indomitable power of the human spirit.
©2017 Carole Engle Avriett (P)2017 TantorRelated to this topic
-
Defiant
- The POWs Who Endured Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison, the Women Who Fought for Them, and the One Who Never Returned
- By: Alvin Townley
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. 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.
-
-
Wow! All I can say is Wow!
- By Rick on 02-22-14
By: Alvin Townley
-
Coffin Corner Boys
- By: Carole Engle Avriett, Captain George W. Starks
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young band of brothers flies over German-occupied France, they come under heavy fire. Their B-17 is shot down and the airmen - stumbling through fields and villages - scatter across Europe. Some struggled to flee for safety. Others were captured immediately and imprisoned. Now, for the first time, their incredible story of grit, survival, and reunion is told. Join George as he retraces his steps to freedom and discover the amazing stories of sacrifice and survival and how 10 young American boys plus their French helpers became heroes.
-
-
Not what I was expecting.
- By Doug Riehle on 06-03-20
By: Carole Engle Avriett, and others
-
Out of Captivity
- Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle
- By: Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, Tom Howes, and others
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Out of Captivity, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes recount for the first time their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and, ultimately, rescue, tracing their five and a half years as hostages of the FARC. Their story takes you inside one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, going behind enemy lines with vivid and haunting imagery.
-
-
Fascinating!
- By James C on 07-04-10
By: Marc Gonsalves, and others
-
Tap Code
- The Epic Survival Tale of a Vietnam POW and the Secret Code That Changed Everything
- By: Carlyle S. Harris, Sara W. Berry, Col. Lee Ellis - Ret. - foreword
- Narrated by: Henry O. Arnold, Ginny Welsch
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Air Force pilot Captain Carlyle "Smitty" Harris was shot down over Vietnam on April 4, 1965 and taken to the infamous Hoa Lo prison—nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton." For the next eight years, Smitty and hundreds of other American POWs—including John McCain and George "Bud" Day—suffered torture, solitary confinement, and unimaginable abuse. It was there Smitty covertly taught the Tap Code—an old, long-unused World War II method of communication—to many POWs. In turn, they taught others, and it quickly became a way for POWs to communicate without their captors' knowledge.
-
-
so informative
- By Mrs Yogi 1005 on 03-21-20
By: Carlyle S. Harris, and others
-
Kidnapped by the Taliban
- A Story of Terror, Hope, and Rescue by SEAL Team Six
- By: Dilip Joseph
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An American physician in rural Afghanistan faces the unimaginable. Dilip Joseph dreams of life as a medical humanitarian. In 2009 his dream comes true as he joins the staff of Colorado-based Morning Star Development, a nonprofit community and economic development organization. On December 5, 2012, Dr. Joseph and two native colleagues, en route from a medical clinic in an Afghan village to Kabul, find themselves face-to-face with four men carrying AK-47s.
-
-
Very Good Story
- By The Paramedic on 04-27-15
By: Dilip Joseph
-
Five Years to Freedom
- The True Story of a Vietnam POW
- By: James N. Rowe
- Narrated by: Reathel Bean
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
My neighbor and friend
- By jp on 03-17-15
By: James N. Rowe
-
Defiant
- The POWs Who Endured Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison, the Women Who Fought for Them, and the One Who Never Returned
- By: Alvin Townley
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. 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.
-
-
Wow! All I can say is Wow!
- By Rick on 02-22-14
By: Alvin Townley
-
Coffin Corner Boys
- By: Carole Engle Avriett, Captain George W. Starks
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young band of brothers flies over German-occupied France, they come under heavy fire. Their B-17 is shot down and the airmen - stumbling through fields and villages - scatter across Europe. Some struggled to flee for safety. Others were captured immediately and imprisoned. Now, for the first time, their incredible story of grit, survival, and reunion is told. Join George as he retraces his steps to freedom and discover the amazing stories of sacrifice and survival and how 10 young American boys plus their French helpers became heroes.
-
-
Not what I was expecting.
- By Doug Riehle on 06-03-20
By: Carole Engle Avriett, and others
-
Out of Captivity
- Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle
- By: Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, Tom Howes, and others
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Out of Captivity, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes recount for the first time their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and, ultimately, rescue, tracing their five and a half years as hostages of the FARC. Their story takes you inside one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, going behind enemy lines with vivid and haunting imagery.
-
-
Fascinating!
- By James C on 07-04-10
By: Marc Gonsalves, and others
-
Tap Code
- The Epic Survival Tale of a Vietnam POW and the Secret Code That Changed Everything
- By: Carlyle S. Harris, Sara W. Berry, Col. Lee Ellis - Ret. - foreword
- Narrated by: Henry O. Arnold, Ginny Welsch
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Air Force pilot Captain Carlyle "Smitty" Harris was shot down over Vietnam on April 4, 1965 and taken to the infamous Hoa Lo prison—nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton." For the next eight years, Smitty and hundreds of other American POWs—including John McCain and George "Bud" Day—suffered torture, solitary confinement, and unimaginable abuse. It was there Smitty covertly taught the Tap Code—an old, long-unused World War II method of communication—to many POWs. In turn, they taught others, and it quickly became a way for POWs to communicate without their captors' knowledge.
-
-
so informative
- By Mrs Yogi 1005 on 03-21-20
By: Carlyle S. Harris, and others
-
Kidnapped by the Taliban
- A Story of Terror, Hope, and Rescue by SEAL Team Six
- By: Dilip Joseph
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An American physician in rural Afghanistan faces the unimaginable. Dilip Joseph dreams of life as a medical humanitarian. In 2009 his dream comes true as he joins the staff of Colorado-based Morning Star Development, a nonprofit community and economic development organization. On December 5, 2012, Dr. Joseph and two native colleagues, en route from a medical clinic in an Afghan village to Kabul, find themselves face-to-face with four men carrying AK-47s.
-
-
Very Good Story
- By The Paramedic on 04-27-15
By: Dilip Joseph
-
Five Years to Freedom
- The True Story of a Vietnam POW
- By: James N. Rowe
- Narrated by: Reathel Bean
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
My neighbor and friend
- By jp on 03-17-15
By: James N. Rowe
-
No Ordinary Joes
- The Extraordinary True Story of Four Submariners in War and Love and Life
- By: Larry Colton
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Prisoner of War Tale
- By Lynn on 03-20-11
By: Larry Colton
-
Code Name: Lise
- The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy
- By: Larry Loftis
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1942: World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and a plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer, Captain Peter Churchill. As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them.
-
-
SKIP THE PROLOGUE!
- By Erica J. Conway on 09-17-19
By: Larry Loftis
-
My Hitch in Hell, New Edition
- The Bataan Death March
- By: Lester I. Tenney, Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale USN - Ret.
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Captured by the Japanese after the fall of Bataan, Lester I. Tenney was one of the very few who would survive the legendary Death March and three and a half years in Japanese prison camps. With an understanding of human nature, a sense of humor, sharp thinking, and fierce determination, Tenney endured the rest of the war as a slave laborer in Japanese prison camps. My Hitch in Hell is an inspiring survivor's epic about the triumph of human will despite unimaginable suffering. This edition features a new introduction and epilogue by the author.e by the author.
-
-
Best Story I have ever listened to
- By Amazon Customer on 09-03-20
By: Lester I. Tenney, and others
-
Unbroken
- A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
- By: Laura Hillenbrand
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Seabiscuit was a runaway success, and Hillenbrand’s done it again with another true-life account about beating unbelievable odds. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared....
-
-
Indescribable
- By Janice on 12-01-10
-
My Brother's Voice
- How a Young Hungarian Boy Survived the Holocaust: A True Story
- By: Stephen Nasser, Sherry Rosenthal
- Narrated by: Maxwell Glick
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen 'Pista' Nasser was 13 years old when the Nazis whisked him and his family away from their home in Hungary to Auschwitz. His memories of that terrifying experience are still vivid, and his love for his brother Andris still brings a husky tone to his voice when he remembers the terrible ordeal they endured together. Stephen's account of the Holocaust, told in the refreshingly direct and optimistic language of a young boy, will help every listener to understand that the Holocaust was real.
-
-
my favorite I've read it 5 times
- By Anonymous User on 04-15-18
By: Stephen Nasser, and others
-
Hope and Honor
- By: Sid Shachnow, Jann Robbins
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Major General Sid Shachnow was ten-years-old when he escaped the notorious Kovno concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Lithuania. Later, he traveled to post-war Germany, and he earned a living as a courier for his mother's black market business. His family eventually came to America where he struggled to get an education, held down three jobs, and courted the girl of his dreams, whom he would marry and raise four daughters with.
-
-
riveting
- By Rob on 02-07-08
By: Sid Shachnow, and others
-
Hope Unseen
- The Story of the U.S. Army's First Blind Active-Duty Officer
- By: Scotty Smiley, Doug Crandall
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blindness became Captain Scotty Smiley’s journey of supreme testing. As he lay helpless in the hospital, he resented the theft of his dreams, but with his wife’s love and the support of family and friends, Scotty’s response became God’s transforming moment. Since the moment he forced his way through nurses and cords to take a simple shower, he has climbed Mount Rainier, won an ESPY Award, surfed, skydived, become a father, earned an MBA from Duke, and much more.
-
-
Perseverance with a little help
- By Kevin P Key on 07-09-16
By: Scotty Smiley, and others
-
In the Company of Heroes
- The True Story of Black Hawk Pilot Michael Durant and the Men Who Fought and Fell at Mogadishu
- By: Michael Durant, Steven Hartov
- Narrated by: Michael Durant
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Durant's experience as a prisoner in Somalia grew increasingly bizarre, crystallizing a clash of cultures by turns frightening, melancholy, hilarious, and strangely familiar. Revealing never-before-told stories with the incisive thought and emotion of one who was there, In the Company of Heroes is one man's unforgettable, true story of going to hell and making it back alive.
-
-
27 years after the fact, I finally listened.
- By Michael on 06-30-21
By: Michael Durant, and others
-
Fire Road
- The Napalm Girl's Journey Through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace
- By: Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Ashley Wiersma
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Get out! Run! We must leave this place! They are going to destroy this whole place! Go, children, run first! Go now! These were the final shouts nine-year-old Kim Phuc heard before her world dissolved into flames - before napalm bombs fell from the sky, burning away her clothing and searing deep into her skin. It's a moment forever captured, an iconic image that has come to define the horror and violence of the Vietnam War. Kim was left for dead in a morgue; no one expected her to survive the attack. Napalm meant fire, and fire meant death.
-
-
The subtitle should warn what the book is
- By Rex Michael Dillon on 01-27-19
By: Kim Phuc Phan Thi, and others
-
I, Who Did Not Die
- A Sweeping Story of Loss, Redemption, and Fate
- By: Zahed Haftlang, Najah Aboud
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Khorramshahr, Iran, May 1982 - It was the bloodiest battle of one of the most brutal wars of the twentieth century, and Najah, a 29-year-old wounded Iraqi conscript, was face to face with a 13-year-old Iranian child soldier who was ordered to kill him. Instead, the boy committed an astonishing act of mercy. It was an act that decades later would save his own life.
-
-
- By jennie on 04-10-24
By: Zahed Haftlang, and others
-
The Railway Man
- By: Eric Lomax
- Narrated by: Bill Paterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
From hatred to forgiveness
- By 9S on 05-04-12
By: Eric Lomax
-
The Auschwitz Escape
- By: Joel C. Rosenberg
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A terrible darkness has fallen upon Jacob Weisz’s beloved Germany. The Nazi regime, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, has surged to power and now hold Germany by the throat. All non-Aryans - especially Jews like Jacob and his family - are treated like dogs. When tragedy strikes during one terrible night of violence, Jacob flees and joins rebel forces working to undermine the regime. But after a raid goes horribly wrong, Jacob finds himself in a living nightmare - trapped in a crowded, stinking car on the train to the Auschwitz death camp.
-
-
Amazing, horrifying, and heartwarming!
- By DebaDeb on 04-01-14
What listeners say about Under the Cover of Light
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Maya
- 07-22-23
Learned more than I already knew
The story is compelling, inspiring and interesting. A man should never have to go through what these men lived and struggled through. Faith is definitely helpful to have.
I wore a POW/MIA bracelet for Tom Curtis for several years. It had Maj. Thomas J. Curtis on it with the 20 September 1965. It was just an ID bracelet. I wore it 24/7 for years. I was in high school and every time I looked down at it I thought of him and often prayed for him. When I wore it I did not know if he was a POW or MIA. I remember how I felt when I saw his name on the list of released prisoners in the newspaper! I received a letter from the people who put out the bracelets saying to return it to them so they could give them to the returned prisoners. I regret to this day that I returned it. I received a letter later from him thanking me for wearing it and asking me to keep it or wear it in memory of those who did not return. I still have that letter tucked away.
Years later I spoke to then retired Col. Curtis. I tracked him down through investigative work I did myself. His name was common so it was not easy. I started with basic assumptions like he was probably about my father's age, probably lived in Louisiana or Texas. (The letter came from Louisiana and as I later learned he was born a year after my father) I found him and decided to call. His wife Terri answered and after I told her I wore his bracelet she was very excited. She said he would be very happy to hear from me. He was outside and came to take the call. We spoke for about an hour. I thought he said he stayed in the USAF and taught pilots for a number of years before teaching middle school. The book does not say what he told me about that.
I found the book interesting especially since I had a connection to the story and the family. Last week I saw a video about Col. Curtis and listened to him tell a bit of the story. A difficult but good read.i
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- chrisg1482
- 10-18-23
Fantastic Story!!!!!!
This is a very uplifting story that took place during a very dark time in the author's life. His ability and that of his fellow P.O.W.'s to stay steadfast to their faith and ideals is a true inspiration. This book should be required reading for all teenagers and anyone who thinks that their life is hard or difficult. Not an ounce of victim mentality in this man or his story, even though he was a true victim.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel Guzman
- 04-12-18
powerful story from a p o w in Vietnam.
I've never been into war stories, but this story was one that I was sure that I would have missed out on had I not read it. the things this man had to endure and was able to with the resiliency of his faith in God was very moving. By the end of this story I was more appreciative of the freedom that soldiers like this have fought for us.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jessie
- 07-07-23
Great story of faith
True war stories are my favorite genre, this was an excellent book on all levels except the narration. The reader was overly cheerful and it took me half the book to learn to ignore it, but it's still worth the listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!