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Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Thirty Years Later
Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Thirty Years Later
“There’s no such thing as a bad day when you have a doorknob on the inside of the door.”
—Cdr. Paul Galanti, USN (Ret.) and former Vietnam POW
Open Doors is a tribute to Vietnam prisoners of war and their individual determination in seeking personal and professional happiness upon their release. A testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of human will, it is also a celebration of freedom.
While their experience in captivity has been well documented, historians have largely overlooked the current lives of former Vietnam POWs. Combining photo portraits and insightful profiles of thirty Vietnam-era POWs, Taylor Baldwin Kiland and Jamie Howren offer an intimate look at these men—the longest-held group of returned POWs in our nation’s history—as husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and grandfathers. Subjects include the famous (Sen. John McCain and former vice presidential candidate Vice Adm. James Stockdale) and the not-so-famous. None received celebrity treatment on their liberation; all resumed their lives as private citizens. Most of them have flourished in the face of great challenges, proud of their accomplishments.
The book is based on a traveling photographic exhibit that toured the United States 2003-2005. Rather than dwelling on the torture and suffering of their years in the notorious prison complex known to its inhabitants as the “Hanoi Hilton,” the authors focused on commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the POWs’ return to the United States and on celebrating the years of freedom and personal achievement that followed.
This book should be required reading for the 230,000 employees of my former department and for the youth of America.
We owe a substantial debt to the two young authors of Open Doors. Countering the myth of the Vietnam veteran as a ‘ruined neurotic’, they have compiled portraits of thirty former POWs, men who once endured the most brutal treatment at the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ and have now moved on successfully with their lives.
Two years ago in remarkable photography and now in moving prose, Kiland and Howren have dispelled forever the myth that there was only one ‘greatest generation’. A wonderful tribute to thirty men of iron.
A powerful testimonial to courage and endurance. Open Doors is a group portrait that keeps faith with those who kept the faith. A singular addition to our literature about the Vietnam War.
Surviving as a POW during the Vietnam War was the ultimate test of one’s courage, stamina, and mental toughness. But for some, the most daunting challenges lay beyond the prison walls as they tried to pick up the pieces of their lives. The stories in Open Doors show us that memory can be its own prison, and that liberating oneself from the past can be the most courageous act of all.
Jamie’s images and Taylor’s profiles make Open Doors an inspirational story of hope, opportunity, and second chances.
It’s a remembrance of sacrifice, a testament to courage, and more than that Open Doors is a celebration of life by a band of heroes.
