The Couples - Captured by Love

Never in history had American POWs been locked up for so many years and rarely under such horrendous conditions. The Hanoi POW population consisted mostly of aircrew members, and the majority were fighter pilots. This meant that we had all been screened by very high standards of mental and physical health. We had been through lots of training and were mostly experienced college-educated professionals with the average age at capture just over 30.

Many of these wives shared a common theme of adventure and military background. Twelve of the wives were very involved in efforts to raise awareness of the POW-MIA plight both in the US and abroad. Fourteen of the 20 wives were waiting for their POW/MIA husbands to come home; four of those men did not return. Twelve of those waiting wives had children, raising them without their dads for more than five years. And two of them were essentially single moms for eight years.

Despite these challenges, the group of POWs in this book created “happily ever after” marriages that, so far, have lasted between 40 and 65 years. Here is more information about their lives and accomplishments.