They Wouldn't Let Us Die

Immediately after their release from captivity in Vietnam, veteran broadcast journalist Rowan set out to discover how the POWs were able to survive their long years of physical and mental torture. In this important book, he presents twelve gripping interviews with the true heroes of that era: Navy Lieutenant Commander John S. McCain, Marine Corps pilot Ernest Brace, and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Stirm, among them.

McCains words from thirty-plus years ago foreshadow the direction his life has taken: I feel that I have at least found what I want to do in life, which is to make a contribution to the betterment of this country, whether it be in or out of the military. I have lost a lot of personal ambition, and its been replaced by an ambition to make a contribution rather than to do something to improve my own status. I feel that Im much better for the experience that I had.

"Solid reporting by a solid reporter"-Dan Rather.

A native of western Canada, Stephen Rowan moved to the U.S. in 1952 and began a career in broadcast journalism, spending fourteen years with CBS, the last five as Pentagon Correspondent. In 1967, Rowan went to Vietnam, working for six months as a war correspondent. He was one of the first reporters to enter the DMZ with troops of the U.S. Marine Corps. Although strongly opposed to the war itself, Rowan had great admiration for the vast majority of enlisted men and lower-ranking officers who, he believes, sincerely tried to do the impossible: save South Vietnam from communism.