Operation Thunderhead : The True Story of Vietnam's Final POW Rescue Mission--and the last NAVY SealKilled in Country

by Dockery, Kevin

• ISBN13: 9780425223734
• ISBN10: 0425223736
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-04
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

Summary

The war was all but over—but there was still one battle the United States had to fight… In the last year of the Vietnam conflict, even as American troops were leaving for home, there were still those fighting for their lives: prisoners of war being held in the Communist north. This is the incredible true story of a rescue mission that was classified Top Secret for years—Operation Thunderhead. The Navy SEALs and the Underwater Demolition Teams who took part knew that if they were captured, they would be killed, tortured, or more likely disappear forever. They went in anyway. Here, for the first time, the full details of Operation Thunderhead are revealed—the mission, the materials, and the men who put their lives on the line to save their brothers in arms.

Author Biography

Kevin Dockery has been the armorer in the President-'s Guard under Presidents Nixon and Ford, a radio broadcaster, a gunsmith, and a historian. He spent time in Iraq and Kuwait during Desert Storm as what he calls a -ôcorporate mercenary.-ö

Table of Contents

Vietnam	p. 1
Fear	p. 10
Code of Conduct	p. 20
A Start	p. 26
Punching Out	p. 34
Captured	p. 39
Moving	p. 48
Interrogation	p. 57
Escape	p. 67
Run	p. 76
The Goose and the Bug	p. 85
Torture	p. 96
The Dungeon	p. 106
Heartbreak and Beyond	p. 115
The Zoo	p. 125
Coker and McKnight	p. 135
Bid for Freedom	p. 144
The Zoo Annex	p. 153
Planning and Preparation	p. 162
Escape from the Annex	p. 171
Freedom Runners	p. 180
Ordeal	p. 189
Seals, Frogmen, and Dark Waters	p. 199
New Time	p. 208
Operation Diamond	p. 217
Blackbirds Booming the Hanoi Hilton	p. 223
Operation Thunderhead	p. 234
Launch	p. 245
Deadly Waters	p. 258
Final Return	p. 276
Appendix	p. 279
Index	p. 281
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.