Dieter Dengler

Dieter Dengler
Dengler in the year after his escape, now promoted to Lieutenant; After six months of imprisonment and torture, and 23 days on the run in the summer of 1966, Lieutenant (JG) Dieter Dengler became only the second captured US airman to escape during the war. Of the seven prisoners of war who escaped together from the communist Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos, only he and Thai citizen Phisit Intharathat survived. After the war, he worked as a test pilot for private aircraft (surviving four crashes) and as a commercial airline pilot. After his retirement sometime prior to 1985, Dengler continued flying for leisure in his restored Cessna 195 and became involved in air shows.
Birth name	Dieter Dengler
Birth date	22 May 1938(1938-05-22)
Place of birth	Wildberg, State of Württemberg, German Reich
Death date	7 February 2001 (aged 62)
Place of death	Mill Valley, California, United States
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force United States Navy
Years of service	1957–1968
Rank	Lieutenant (junior grade), later Lieutenant
Unit	Attack Squadron 145 USS Ranger (CV-61)
Battles/wars	Vietnam War Operation Flaming Dart
Awards	Navy Cross
Other work	Baker, forest firefighter, gold prospector, test pilot, pilot with the Trans World Airlines

Dieter Dengler (22 May 1938 – 7 February 2001) was a German-born United States Navy aviator who was captured during the Vietnam War. The retired officer and commercial pilot was proud of always having his fate in his own hands, even at death, when he chose his own weapon over months of further agony due to the Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Life

Dieter Dengler was born and raised in the small town of Wildberg, in the Black Forest region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. He grew up not knowing his father [Reinhold Dengler], who had been drafted into the German army in 1939 and was killed during World War II on the Eastern Front during the winter of 1943/44. Dengler became very close to his mothers and brothers. Dieter grew up in extreme poverty but always found ways to help his family survive. He After seeing an advertisement in an American magazine, expressing a need for pilots, he decided to go to the United States. He started salvaging scrap metals to sell, and completing his apprenticeship at 18, hitchhiked to Hamburg to set sail for New York City. Dieter Dengler lived on the streets of Manhattan for over a week, and eventually contacted an Air Force recruiter who enlisted him at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas in June 1957. Despite being promised a piloting job, he was assigned the duty of a motor pool mechanic after completing the basic training, and later got an assignment to work as a gunsmith. During this time, he had passed the test for aviation cadets, but was not selected for pilot training as he was not a college graduate. He worked with his brother at a bakery shop near San Francisco for some time, and then enrolled into San Francisco City College, but later transferred to the College of San Mateo to study aeronautics. Upon graduation, he successfully applied for the US Navy aviation cadet program, completed his flight training, and trained as an attack pilot in the Douglas AD Skyraider at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. He joined the VA-145 squadron while it was on shore duty at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, and in 1965, joined the carrier USS Ranger with his squadron to sail for the coast of Vietnam. After spending some time at Dixie Station, off South Vietnam, Dieter Dengler moved to Yankee Station for operations against North Vietnam, and on February 1, 1966, flew on an interdiction mission with three other aircraft. They lost sight of one another as smoke rising from the burning fields blocked their visibility, following which Lieutenant, Junior Grade Dengler flew for two-and-a-half hours into enemy territory before being hit by anti-aircraft fire. As soon as he gained consciousness following the 100ft jump, he ran into the jungle for cover and hid his survival equipments so that enemy troops cannot find those. Despite, he was apprehended the next day by Pathet Lao troops, who marched him through the jungle and tied him to four stakes spread-eagled.

Following a failed escape attempt, he was tortured by being hung upside down with a nest of biting ants over his face and was suspended in a freezing well at night. Once after he refused to sign a document condemning the United States, tiny wedges of bamboo were inserted under his fingernails and into incisions on his body which grew and festered. "They were always thinking of something new to do to me." Dengler recalled. "One guy made a rope tourniquet around my upper arm. He inserted a piece of wood, and twisted and twisted until my nerves cut against the bone. The hand was completely unusable for six months." After some weeks Dengler was handed over to the Vietnamese. As they marched him through a village, a man slipped Dengler's engagement ring from his finger. Dengler complained to his guards. They found the culprit, summarily chopped off his finger with a machete and handed the ring back to Dnegler. "I realized right there and then that you don't fool around with the Viet Cong", he said. He was later brought to a prison camp near the village of Par Kung, where he planned to escape, but the other prisoners could not agree on a date. After being shifted to Hoi Het, the Thai prisoners overheard the guards talking about shooting them and making it look like an escape attempt, following which the prisoners fixed an escape date. On June 29, 1966, the seven prisoners freed themselves while the guards were eating, and seizing their weapons, escaped from POW camp. The group split to avoid detection, with Dengler accompanying American Air Force helicopter pilot Duane W. Martin. The two took refuge in an abandoned village, but had to venture into a nearby Akha village in search of food, during which Martin was killed by a villager. Dengler managed to escape into the jungle and was able to signal an Air Force pilot on July 20, 1966, following which he was rescued by a helicopter crew. Dieter Dengler has received many awards and honors for his heroic escape from enemy captivity, including the 'Navy Cross', Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Air Medal. After he physically recovered, Dieter Dengler rejoined the navy and was promoted to Lieutenant rank. He later resigned from the navy and joined Trans World Airlines as a pilot. He continued flying almost up until his death. In 2000, Dengler was inducted into the Gathering of Eagles program and told the story of his escape to groups of young military officers. Dengler was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable neurological disorder; on February 7, 2001, he rolled his wheelchair from his house down to the driveway of a fire station and shot himself. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. A Navy honor guard was present at the burial as well as a fly-over by Navy F-14 Tomcats. We honor and thank Lt. Dengler for his valiant service and sacrifices for his country. He will never be forgotten.

Family

Dengler was married three times: to Marina Adamich (1966–1970), to Irene Lam (1980–1984,[18] and to Yukiko Dengler (1998–2001). Dengler was survived by two sons, Rolf of San Francisco and Alexander of Los Angeles, and three grandsons as well as his brothers Martin of Santa Rosa and Klaus of Rottenburg, Germany.

Media

Dengler was a contestant on the 30 January 1967 episode of I've Got a Secret, where his secret was that he escaped from a POW camp in Laos. The following year, he appeared on Hollywood Squares. He discussed issues pertaining to prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action in Christopher Olgiati's 1988 documentary We Can Keep You Forever. Dengler was the subject of German filmmaker Werner Herzog's 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly and screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 1997. The movie later appeared on Cinemax and was nominated for an Emmy in 1999. Herzog had vowed to make a movie about his German-born compatriot's epic struggle for survival during the Vietnam War. Herzog also directed Rescue Dawn, which starred Christian Bale as Dengler. It was shown at festivals at the end of 2006 and received a limited theatrical release in the USA on 4 July 2007 before the general release later that month.

Awards and decorations

• Navy Cross
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Bronze Star with "V" device
• Purple Heart
• Air Medal
• Navy Unit Commendation
• Prisoner of War Medal
• National Defense Service Medal
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with 1 bronze Campaign star
• Vietnam Service Medal with 1 bronze Campaign star
• Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with palm and frame
• Vietnam Campaign Medal with "60-" clasp
• Navy Rifle Marksmanship Medal with Expert device
• Navy Pistol Marksmanship Medal with Expert device
• US Naval Aviator Insignia Badge

Citation (Navy Cross)

The Navy Cross is presented to Dieter Dengler, Lieutenant (j.g.), U.S. Navy (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism during an extremely daring escape from a Prisoner of War stockade on 30 June 1966. Playing a key role in planning, preparing for, and developing an escape and evasion operation involving several fellow prisoners and himself, Lieutenant (j.g.) Dengler, keenly aware of the hazardous nature of the escape attempt, boldly initiated the operation and contributed in large measure to its success. When an unplanned situation developed while the escape operation was being executed, he reacted with the highest degree of valor and gallantry. Through his courageous and inspiring fighting spirit, Lieutenant (j.g.) Dengler upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Further reading

• Bruce Henderson: Hero Found – The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War, Harper Paperbacks, 2010
  • In February 1966, U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over “neutral Laos,” crashing in the dark heart of territory controlled by the communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese army. Dengler found himself on the wrong side of the Annam Cordillera mountain range, with 80 miles or so of inhospitable jungle to traverse before reaching the coast of the Gulf of Tonkin, in which his aircraft carrier Ranger steamed. As news of the shootdown spread aboard the warship, there was widespread agreement that the missing pilot — capable, daring, and prepared — would somehow make it back alive. The German-born pilot was already a legend at the Navy’s Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) school in the California desert, where he had set a record by breaking out three times from a mock POW camp. Hero Found is the dramatic true story made famous in acclaimed director Werner Herzog’s feature film, Rescue Dawn, and documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, of this extraordinary Navy pilot who led a mass escape from a POW camp deep inside Laos, becoming the longest-held American to escape captivity during the Vietnam War. It is a tale of courage and survival against impossible odds.

Writings

• Lt Dieter Dengler, USN: Escape from Laos
  • Dengler documented his experiences in Escape From Laos, a book published with Presidio Press in 1979.

External links

• STORY OF ESCAPE as told by the only living survivor, Pisidhi Indradat, with excerpts from Dieter Dengler’s “Escape from Laos”
• Dieter Dengler: Heroic Immigrant Pilot Who Escaped POW Camp, Forbes, 2017 (Archive)
• Heroes of Vietnam: “I Escaped from a Viet Cong Prison”, 2018 (originally published 3 December 1966)