Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Edward Holmes Martin was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Spelling errors are indicated with [sic]; however, recurring errors in spelling within a single document have been marked the first time and not subsequently.
Can you tell me what wars and branch of service you severed in?
I served in the United States Navy entering the Naval academy in 1950 and graduated in 1954, and served in the Navy until I retired in 1989, so a total of 39 years including the naval academy. I served throughout the Navy in a broad spectrum of jobs. I was in the Vietnam War and shot down on the ninth of July in 1967, and was a prisoner of war until March 3 of 1973 in a total of just under six years.
Can you tell me more about your POW experience?
I was captured immediately after I was shot down and ejected just outside Hanoi, and was beaten pretty severely. The North Vietnamese were very cruel, barbaric captors. One time I was keep in solitary confinement for 13 months. They broke my shoulder very badly in rope torture and one leg and beat me up pretty badly in the spare time, over the years off and on. Over the years but worst at first. I spent a lot of time there and of course the one that I gleaned out of it, and I think that I am a very positive person was a great appreciation for what we have here in the US. Most people do not take time to sit back and reflect upon those things that we have here which were so fortunate the freedoms that we have, the ability to go open a door at anytime you want to and not worrying about being arrested by the secret police.
What did you do to pass the time?
Fundamentally we became very well organized, most of the POW's in North Vietnam were older, more educated and more experienced that POW's from previous such as World War II and the Korean War. We got very organized, though we were not allowed to communicate to each other. We developed means of communication, and we spent a lot of time communicating. Other things we spent time with, you had to keep your mind and your body in as good shape as possible. I did a lot of math, you had nothing to write on or really anything to occupy yourself, so you had to do it all in your mind. I did a tremendous amount of math in my mind and I learned shortcuts to doing math, I derived formulas for math such as the formula for speed of sound relevant to estimate temperature. Doing word puzzles in my mind, basic arithmetic, mathematics, calculus in my mind, also memorizing poetry. Anything to keep you mind active and that is terribly important in that situation like this, and I think this is one of the things that allowed us to follow our fundamental creed which was home with honor.
What did they feed you?
Well the food was terrible, the first couples of years I did not think that I was going to live, I was beaten up pretty badly and I had infections. The food initially was pumpkin soup, bread over the years the food improved somewhat. I weighed 165 pounds when I was shout down and I think I went down to 103 and gained some of that back over the years. The food over the years was terrible not healthy, rotten stuff, but fundamentally this kept us alive.
You said they broke your shoulder, were there doctors there to treat it?
No, they roped my shoulder in what we call a rope trick, they were doing this to try and get me to write a statement on our government which I never did, it may have been the best thing that I ever had happen to me because after that they broke my shoulder and didn't bother me to much. They said if! change my attitude they would give me medical attention, which they never did. I just kept my arms like this for a long time; I had to eat kind of like how a dog eats. It sort of healed and nothing has every been done to it
What else did they do to you?
They did other things, they made you kneel down on a concrete floor with your hands in the air and try that sometime for several hours. They made you sit on a stool for long periods of time without you going to sleep when you were shackled to the stool, they put you in leg irons and wrist irons, and sometimes it was just physical beatings
Did you meet any friends?
Yes I have made some other close friends I have in life because when you were in this situation you crave companionship. I got so sick and in such bad shape that about after eight or nine months they moved an Air Force US Major in with me and he more or less took care of me for a long time and they have over the years they moved us around so you were with other people. Later on you became friends, I for example I lived with the now Senator John McCain for quite awhile, and we became very close friends and we still have reunions about every two years
Did they keep you in a small room?
Initially well I was there famous Hanoi Hilton in a section that we call heart break hotel, a lot of slim and mold to concrete beds with leg irons at the end of it the room was about 76 inches long and 56 wide. Then from time to time they moved us in to different rooms usually bigger but one time it was smaller. There were two of us in a room with only enough room for one to sleep in.
Was there anything you had for good luck?
No they didn't let you have anything of that nature. The only thing I had was knowledge that my country was behind me and that they were doing everything thing that they could to get us out of there.
Do you recall any humorous or unusual events?
One time in my life I had been an astronaut selective and I knew a lot of the initial astronauts and when me made a landing on the moon of course we didn't know about this for about a little over a year. They had these horrible interrogations which we called quizzes in which they were just trying to give propaganda to you, and they made a statement Neil Armstrong didn't need to tell the Vietnams what the craters ofthe moon look like because they were so familiar with our bombing over there. I knew immediately that we succeeded to landed on the moon, so we started to stand outside and started saluting the moon. They wanted to know why we were doing this, and we said that you better take care of us and treat us properly because we know that you tet festival every year is predicative on the cycles of the moon and know that we own the moon we will not allow you to us it for your tet anymore. A lot of humorous things came up and humor was very important.
What pranks did you pull on others?
When I was going through flight training sometimes we would pull pranks on one another. We didn't spend a lot of time pulling pranks
What kind of plane did you fly?
When I was shot down I was flying an A4C sky hawk, but I flew a lot of other things because later on I was head of all Naval Aviation and I had the opportunity to fly a lot of planes, the fastest plane I flew was the F -18
What is the highest rank you achieved?
I became the Senior Vice Admiral of the US Navy. At that time we only had nine admirals above and those were spread out. I had three jobs as a vice admiral when I got through that third job I thought it was about time to retire
What did you go on to do as a career after the war?
I retired in1989 and the war ended in 1973 so I served sixteen years after I came home. Of course, when I came home I went to Washington and I went to the National War Collage for a year. I was one of the distinguished graduates the year I graduated, and then I went to work in an office job in Washington as the executive assistant Then, I became commanding officer of a large ship, and then I became commanding officer of one of our big aircraft carriers, then I made flag officer, I became the Chief of Naval air training, and after that I had the Indian Ocean task force after that I was a commander of task force sixty, and after that I was a Commanding Officer of the Pacific Fleet, after that I was deputy chief of naval operations air, and after that I was Deputy Chief of Naval force in Europe, and after that I retired.
How did you know that you were going to be freed?
Well they kept telling us all the time that we're criminals, that we're never going home and that we we're going to fertilize the trees of Vietnam. However the treatment improved considerably the last year and we knew that the Paris peace talks were going on and those were signed on the 27 of January 1973. We had established a policy that we would go home order by shot down, sick and injured first and we were not sure when the first group left, we were not sure wet the rest of us left. When we left Vietnam it was like going from hell to heaven.
How did your service affect your life?
It had a most profound effect on my life; first of all it gave me a joy of living. It made me appreciate the things that we have; it made me appreciate my family, children, and friends. It gave me a tremendous gust for living. That experience taught me more than anything else, the importance of an education.
When you got back what was the first thing that you did?
When we flew out we flew to Clark Air force base in the Philippines and we spent three days there and went under intense physical examinations. They hit me in the head with a rifle and knocked all of my teeth out and almost blinded me so they did a lot of work on my teeth, after that they flew us horne in my case San Diego and I was in Balboa Naval Hospital for a few days and they gave us very intensive examinations and then we had some time off which I did not take I went back to Washington to find out what I was going to do I didn't know raving maniac, a blubbering idiot and the US Government didn't know what our condition would be. I did like what I saw in the US Navy at the time, this was doing the post sixties time frame, early seventies the long hair the scrubby look with beards and I didn't care for that and I said I would give it at least a year. Then I went to the National War College and that was one of the best years I every spent, then after that I went searching to see where I was going to fit in and the Navy gave me a wonderful opportunity and I think I had the best job to offer even considering the efforts of my six years.
What did you miss most?
Every thing. I missed my family. You missed decent food, you craved food. You missed companionship. You missed being able to read a book, or write a letter. You had all of these things that you are used to everyday taken away from you.
Is there anything that you would like to add that I didn't cover?
The main thing that I would like to say is this experience as bad as it was as everything else in life, you can learn from it and grow from it, you can make your self a better person from because of adverse situation, this was an adverse situation and you can make it a positive in your life if you look at it that way or you can make it a negative in you life. I chose to make it positive, and I think I'm a better person from it, a better American, and I'm a better parent and husband because of it, having all this strip away and really appreciating what we have and I would enjoy everyone to sit back and enjoy and say my God look what I have in life.