Villagers watched as John's chute briefly opened before he plunged into the shallow water of the Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi, North Vietnam. He landed in the middle of the lake, in the middle of the capital city, in the middle of the day. He regained conscious when he struck the water. Wearing fifty pounds of gear, he touched the bottom of the shallow lake and kicked off with his good leg. "I didn't feel any pain as I broke the surface, and I didn't understand why I couldn't move my arms to pull the cord on my life vest," John said. Failing to inflate his life vest, John quickly sank back to the bottom, and then broke the surface again. He managed to pull the cord with his teeth, inflating hi

Because of the poor economic state of North Vietnam, money to care for the prisoners was a problem. The prison did not come with creature comforts we enjoy today in even our most basic institutions. Prisoners were rationed only the basic necessities for survival and hygiene. In the beginning of the war, prisoners were given a single blade for the entire camp to shave with. The blades were so poor that the men felt that they would prefer being given weekly, monthly, or even yearly shaves, since the blades would tear up their faces (Chesley 40).

In an incredible display of irony, the city of Hanoi has sold a portion of the land that the Hoa Lo prison once stood on, to Hilton International, Ltd. A 5-star, $64 million hotel, complete with gyms, telephones near the toilets, a state-of-the-art business center, grand ballroom, marble bathrooms and a dining and entertainment area is being built on the land that hundreds of Americans and Vietnamese suffered, were tortured, and died on (Brown 1). Only one corner of the prison remains as a museum. Though the emphasis on the museum is the hardships that the Vietnamese villagers suffered at the hands of the French (Lander).

The French completed the construction on the prison in 1901. It was built to hold Vietnamese criminals and occupied two city blocks. The prison came complete with small leg irons built especially for the Vietnamese (which were often too small for the Americans), a guillotine(Russ 1), 6 feet by 12 feet cells, and hardwood beds (Walsh 2). (See pictures 1 and 2) When the French left in 1954, the Vietnamese changed the name of the street back to "Hibachi Street", and renamed the prison "Hoa Lo", after the hibachis that were once made on the area the prison stands on (The Hanoi Hilton 1). The American POWs joking dubbed it the "Hanoi Hilton" after a popular hotel chain (Cogan 1)

Moe, Thomas. "Pure Torture" 1975 http://www.aj.com/main/followup.asp?qCategory=NC17&ask=what+is+chinese+water+torture%3F&qSource=0&origin=0&frames=yes&site_name=Jeeves&metasearch=yes&ads=&sv=203&back=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aj.com%2Fmain%2Faskjeeves.asp%3Fask%3Dwhat%2Bis%2Bchinese%2Bwater%2Btorture%253F%26origin%3D0%26site_name%3DJeeves%26metasearch%3Dyes%26ads%3D%26Ask%2521.x%3D10%26Ask%2521.y%3D7&aj_ques=snapshot%3DJeeves%26kbid%3D1265473%26item1%3D1265474-1271371&aj_logid=C5D2EB52366E66409D6F73AD5D53B2BF&aj_rank=1&aj_score=1.2&aj_list1=1265474-1271272&x=7&y=15

McCain, John. Faith of My Fathers. New York: Random House, 1999

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2416
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)