John McCain slept here

Swinging the plate over the bars plunges the cell into darkness.

Hello, Wilson,

On September 2, the day after Vietnam's National Day (Independence Day) I visited a hotel where some famous people have stayed. In fact, the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam following the "American War" and presidential candidate John McCain lived there for extended periods. They called it the Hanoi Hilton. Hell would have been a better name. But at least McCain got a monument out of the ordeal.

But before I get into that, I'd like to re-introduce you to my tour guide for that day. She told me to call her "Flower," and that was a blessing, because I'm not sure just how to pronounce Ngoc Lan, her Vietnamese name. That's Flower and me below, in the first selfie she has ever been in. She's wearing her folding sun hat. I'm wearing a fabric that I can pull over the top of my head since my hair is no longer thick enough to keep my scalp from sunburning.

My guide, Flower, with me in her very first selfie

In nice, but broken English, Flower explained that her name refers to the ylang ylang flower, so it makes sense to call her Flower. She's kind of cute, I think, but much too young for me, having been

The ylang ylang

born in 1959. I was already out of the Air Force and in grad school, and she was only 13 years old when a bomb from a B-52 caught her fleeing Hanoi during a 1972 air raid, leading to the removal of her leg. I didn't ask for a lot of details about her life, but I did learn that this bright, attractive woman never married, and I expect she never had a boyfriend. Wars have a way of significantly limiting the relationship opportunities for females, and especially disabled females. Although "disabled" isn't quite the precise word for Flower.

Flower took a taxi to the May de Ville Legend, where I was rooming. I waited on the narrow street, refusing vendors, watching out for motorcycles and wondering whether she would really show up, when she rounded the corner with a smile and cheerfully made her way toward me. We navigated the sidewalks and narrow streets for about half a kilometer to the bus stop. Flower moves with calm dignity, pausing to calculate the ebb and flow of Hanoi's chaotic traffic before crossing the street, and carefully, but artfully as well, ascending (and descending) the steps of the bus.

Our first stop was a temple complex dating back almost 1,500 years.

The Trấn Quốc Pagoda is the city's oldest and dominates the neighborhood.

A river runs through it

Hanoi, whose name literally means "river within," is situated in an area that has been settled for 5,000 years. The city was 1,000 years old in 2010, and it is not only "River City," but it is a city of dozens of lakes. The Trấn Quốc Pagoda is situated beside two of them -- West Lake, the city's largest, and Trúc Bạch Lake, which bomber pilot John McCain descended into on October 26, 1967. But we'll get to that in a bit.

The red color of the temple pagodas signifies luck and prosperity.

Trấn Quốc Pagoda is the largest pagoda in the Trấn Quốc Temple complex. It is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi, dating back 1,450 years -- although technically it was "remade" in 2004. The idea that the pagoda was remade and yet is more than 14 centuries old reflects a point of view that caught my attention. So did the idea of providing "fake" money as a sacrifice to be burned at the temple. (The Ben Franklin note in the photo below is not a genuine U.S. $100 bill.)

The fake currency here will be burned by monks.

One big genie

The tip of the nail on the great toe of the genie was made brighter from constant touches.

 Those mighty toes, above, which are being caressed for good luck, below, belong to the four ton black bronze statue of the sitting genie in the Tran Vu Temple, located down the road from the Trấn Quốc Temple. Tran Vu Temple dates from 1010 and served as the frontier gate defending Thang Long Capital.

The arm belongs to a lady having her picture taken rubbing the genie's foot.

Lost in contemplation, the 12-foot tall genie yielded up the luck without batting an eye.

I'm betting the monks won't burn the V.O. brandy.

A candle glows at the opening of the furnace where fake currency and other offerings are burned.

McCain's monument

Enroute to the temple, Flower paused for a moment to direct my attention to a small monument beside Trúc Bạch Lake, shown in the photo immediately below:

This day, there were swan paddle boats plodding the lake. But in 1967, the scene below was another story, as soldiers and civilians hauled John McCain out of the lake he had just parachuted into:

Photo from the Hoa Lo prison museum, showing McCain being pulled to shore.

And here is the monument that documents that day that the former presidential candidate was shot down while bombing Hanoi:

The unanswered question: why did they create a memorial here to McCain?

 This memorial also signals the beginning of a long imprisonment in which McCain became intimately familiar with practices that make him an avowed enemy of torture today. And what better place to learn than the French prison of Hoa Lo, with a legacy in which opponents of French rule were deprived, malnourished, beaten, and occasionally beheaded? Welcome to the "Hanoi Hilton."

The recently modeled Hoa Lo French high security prison formerly a.k.a. Hanoi Hilton.

A painting of how Hoa Lo's entrance looked to Vietnamese who were taken there by the French.

The Hoa Lo history

Vietnam is an old land, with spectacular geological formations which include limestone karsts that jut up from the rice fields and bays, as well as heavily-weathered iron-rich soils whose red clay deposits account for the color of the Red River that flows through Hanoi. These clay deposits were the basis of the economy of Phu Khanh Village, where artisans crafted pots, teapots and portable stoves of such quality that the location became known as the village of portable stoves.

And it was that community of artisans that the French displaced in the 1890s to construct one of the most fortified and highest security prison in Indochina. The facility included a court and the headquarters for the secret police. The graphic displays that follow tell the tale:

The Hoa Lo prison complex

A life-size depiction of Vietnamese prisoners, shackled in a long row.

According to information at the museum, Cell D of the prison, designed to hold 40, at times held 100, with only a wooden barrel for human waste. It was cold at times, forcing prisons to sleep close in the spoon position to stay warm. Unintentionally, it served as the graduate school for individuals who later became senior executives of the communist party of Vietnam.

Prisoners were beaten, and, this relief suggests, had their heads forced into human waste. 

Here's more comment about another section of the prison:

Hoa Lo was not perfectly secure. In 1945, more than 100 prisoners dug their way out through the sewer system and escaped, participating afterward in insurrection.

Depiction of a prisoner digging his way to escape via the prison's sewer

Others were not so fortunate. Almost forty years earlier, in July 1908, there was an attempt seize Hanoi from the French. Central to the plan was the poisoning of the Hanoi French garrison with dartura, a plant also known as thorn-apple and Jimsomweed. Some 200 troops were incapacitated, but they didn't die. One of the cooks involved felt guilty and confessed to a priest, who divulged the plot to the French authorities. Thirteen plotters were beheaded.

Above: The French displayed heads of "patriotic soldiers" involved in the 1908 Hanoi Poisoning Plot.

A depiction of an emaciated prisoner at Hoa Lo.

A glimpse into a cell.

Flower glances into a cell that appears to be large enough for several prisoners.

An Australian visitor talks with Flower about prosthetics. His lost his leg in a farm accident.

On the far left, one of two guillotines operated at the prison. On the right, Air Force Captain Douglas B. Peterson, an F4 C pilot shot down April 10, 1966 and imprisoned at Hoa Lo. He later entered politics, and in 1995 became the first U.S. Ambassador of the United States to Vietnam.

In the photo immediately below, John McCain, in a visit to Vietnam on friendlier terms, points to the photo of Peterson.

And the photo below that shows the leader of Hoa Lo prison addressing American prisoners about to be released on February 12, 1973.

Photo at museum shows McCain pointing to photo of Ambassador Peterson, as a prisoner.

Feb. 12, 1973: American servicemen addressed by prison official upon their release.

In the daylight: A deliveryman takes a break in the park, oblivious to the Hanoi Hilton.

It seems so long ago, Wilson. A lifetime, really. But there are still workshops for Vietnamese individuals disabled from the bombs and the chemicals, who eke out a living making purses and clothing and weavings and carved rocks for tourists. What is remarkable is that they welcome us. It is such a testament to the resilience of our species. Maybe, in a sense, we are unbreakable, too.

Love,

Robert, and Jean Baptiste