HEGDAHL, DOUGLAS BRENT

Name: Douglas Brent Hegdahl
Branch/Rank: UNITED STATES NAVY/E2
Unit:
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: CLARK SD
Date of Loss: 06-April-67
Country of Loss: NORTH VIETNAM
Loss Coordinates:
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: AT SEA
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno:

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action
Combat Casualty File.

REMARKS:  690805 RELEASED

WASHED OVERBOARD IN TONKIN GULF  -- CRUISER CANBERRA

RESIDES CALIFORNIA/ALIVE IN 98

SYNOPSIS: Seaman Apprentice (E-2) Doug Hegdahl, USN who fell overboard
from the USS Canberra during ship maneuvres in the Gulf of Tonkin.  He
swam for his life until picked up the next day by fishermen.  Although
captured in international waters, he was taken to NVN and held there
until his release.  Doug was ship's crew.

The American POWs agreed that they would not accept early release
without all the prisoners being released, but in early August 1969, the
POWs decided it was time the story of their torture was known. Allowing
someone in their midst to accept an early release would also provide the
U.S. with a more complete list of Americans being held captive. A young
seaman, Doug Hegdahl, together with Bob Frishman and Wesley Rumble were
released from Hanoi as a propaganda move for the Vietnamese, but only
Hegdahl went with the blessings of the POWs. When they were about to be
released, Stratton told Hegdahl, "Go ahead, blow the whistle. If it means
more torture for me, at least I'll know why, and will feel it's worth the
sacrifice." Eventually, after world pressure ensued, torture of American
POWs ceased.

Douglas Hegdahl brought back a list of over 200 POWs names which he
memorized to the tone of a nursery rythme "Old McDonald Had a Farm".
(Hegdahl's list is not presented in the EGRESS RECAP.)

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FROM: PILOT'S IN PAJAMAS - the German Propaganda Film--

Stratton & Hegdahl                             Here commander Stratton and
sweeping yard                                  the sailor Douglas Brent
                                               Hegdahl are maintaining the
                                               cleanliness of the camp.
67.
Hegdahl alone                                  Hegdahl is the only American
                                               draftee in custody in the
                                               DRV. The sailor fell
                                               overboard from a warship
                                               where he was serving
                                               as a draftee, and was
                                               fished out of the water a
                                               short time later by
                                               Vietnamese fishermen. Now
                                               Hegdahl is sharing the life
68.
Stratton                                       of the captured air pirates.
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Long after the war ended, "early releasees" carry a stigma of abandoning
their own by refusing to stay until all were freed. Hegdahl is welcomed
among the returnees.

In 1998, at a reunion dinner hosted by the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda,
CA. Hegdahl could still repeat the complete list.

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