page_title: George Thomas Coker
section_title: Prisoner of war
hierarchical_section_title: George Thomas Coker / Naval career / Prisoner of war
caption_attribution_description: Two U.S. Navy Grumman A-6E Intruder (BuNo 158531, 158533) from Attack Squadron VA-65 Tigers in flight in August 1972. VA-65 was assigend to Carrier Air Wing 7 (CVW-7) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVA-62) and had transitioned from the A-6A to the A-6E variant after returning from a deployment in 1972.
context_page_description: George Thomas Coker is a retired United States Navy commander who was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. An Eagle Scout, he is noted for his devotion to scouting.
  In 1966, the A-6 Intruder jet on which Coker was serving as co-pilot, bombardier, and navigator, was shot down over North Vietnam. He was held as a prisoner of war in the "Hanoi Hilton" and other camps for six and a half years. After his release, he continued to serve in the Navy until his retirement in 1986.
context_section_description: On Coker's 55th bombing mission, he was a lieutenant, junior grade, serving as the Bombardier–Navigator of an A-6 Intruder from Attack Squadron 65 (VA-65) operating from the USS Constellation (CV-64), when he and his pilot, John H. "Jack" Fellowes, were shot down over North Vietnam on August 27, 1966 while flying near Vinh in Nghệ An Province. The aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile, which blew off the right wing, and the two crewmembers ejected from the aircraft after it went into a flat spin. Their wingman tracked the parachutes as the crew descended, but lost sight of them due to poor visibility and flak after the crew were within 50 feet of the ground. Ejection was at about 2,000 feet altitude and 18 miles inland in flat terrain. Coker and Fellowes landed about one mile apart. Fellowes landed on a hillside and Coker in a large rice paddy in a well-populated area. Both were captured by armed villagers soon after landing. For three hours after they ejected, American aircraft made a thorough search, despite moderate to heavy flak, but were unable to spot the parachutes or get a signal from their emergency beepers.
  Coker was held by the North Vietnamese at a number of different POW camps in the Hanoi area, including Cu Loc, Dirty Bird, Alcatraz Grove, the Zoo, Little Vegas, and Hỏa Lò Prison (the "Hanoi Hilton").
  While in a facility on the outskirts of Hanoi known as "The Zoo", he was forced to endure a torture called "the wall", in which he, as well as other prisoners, were forced to stand facing a wall in his cell with his hands above his head from the time a gong sounded at 5:30 in the morning until it sounded again at 10:00 at night. After two weeks, the knee injury he suffered when he ejected had worsened, and he was taken to a hospital where the infection was drained. After a two-day respite while he recuperated, "the wall" torture continued for two more months. Coker called this "probably my worst experience in Vietnam".
  During his captivity, Coker was notable for the ferocity with which he resisted his incarceration. Coker was considered one of "the baddest of the baddest" of the POWs, a reference to his stubborn resistance to his captivity. Coker's Silver Star citation cited his fierce resistance as one of the significant reasons the North Vietnamese eventually abandoned harsh treatment of the prisoners. Coker served as chaplain to his fellow prisoners while he was in captivity, providing them with spiritual guidance and constructive counseling. For these efforts, he was awarded the Legion of Merit.
  In July 1967, Coker devised "unusual and ingenious methods" to allow his fellow prisoners to communicate with each other within their camp, assisting their collective efforts to resist their captor's demands and improving the morale of American and Allied POWs. For his "heroic achievement", Coker was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V".
  That year, Coker and Air Force Captain George McKnight (another of the "baddest") conceived an escape plan. The two would escape from their cells and make it to the nearby Red River, swim by night and hide by day, estimating that it would take three or four days to reach the mouth of the river. There they would commandeer a boat and make it out to sea where they hoped to flag down a ship of the United States Seventh Fleet, estimating that it would take eight days from their escape until their rescue. The two removed the hinges from their cell and escaped from Dirty Bird prison in Hanoi the night of October 12, 1967, climbed to the roof of the prison block and jumped to another roof to escape. They tied themselves together to avoid separation and jumped into the Red River near the Tanwa Bridge. That night they made it 15 miles downstream in the dark and hid in the mud on the river's edge at daybreak. The two were recaptured 12½ hours after they had escaped when they were spotted by fishermen along the shore early that morning and were handed over to soldiers. They were held in irons at Hỏa Lò prison before being returned to Dirty Bird a few days later. Their effort m
caption: A-6 Intruders flown by VA-65 in 1972
exif: {}