Ernest C . Brace Ernest C . Brace ( born August 15 , 1931 ) was the longest - held civilian prisoner of war ( POW ) in Vietnam . A decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot and mustang , Brace was court - martialed in 1961 for attempting to fake his own death . He flew as a civilian contract pilot before being captured in Laos in 1965 while flying supplies for USAID . He spent almost eight years as a POW and upon his release received a Presidential Pardon in light of his good conduct . Military career . Brace enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1947 at age 15 as an aviation radar and radio technician . He earned his Pilot ' s Wings and his commission as a Second Lieutenant from the Aviation Cadet School , graduating in August 1951 . During his tour in the Korean War ( April 1952 - March 1953 ) , he flew more than 100 missions . While assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 121 in November 1952 , Second Lieutenant Brace participated in a dive - bombing attack against a Korean hydroelectric plant . Brace received surface - to - air fire as he took low - altitude reconnaissance imagery of the bombing results . He was able to fly his damaged AD - 3 Skyraider clear of the Korean Peninsula , crashing in the Sea of Japan where he was rescued by " USS Kidd " . For his courage and initiative , Brace was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . Years later , Brace ( then a captain ) crashed his T - 28 Trojan into a cornfield near the mouth of the Choptank River near Cambridge , Maryland during a training flight on 3 January 1961 . He fled the scene and turned himself in ten days later once his empty flight - suit was found hidden in vegetation . Brace faced a court martial and was charged with deliberately crashing his aircraft and faking his death so that his wife Patricia could collect insurance money to pay off debts . Brace pled guilty to " unauthorized absence " and was acquitted of the deliberate destruction of his aircraft . The court martial ended his military career . Capture . Brace then worked as a civilian pilot for a number of companies before flying for BirdAir , an airline contracted by the Thai Border Patrol Police . BirdAir also supported USAID interests in Southeast Asia . On 21 May 1965 , he flew Royal Thai Army Sergeant Chaicharn , as well as other passengers and cargo to a dirt airstrip in the Northern Laotian village of Baum Lao in Muong Houn District . Brace ' s aircraft , a Pilatus PC - 6 Porter , received small arms fire upon landing , rendering it incapable of taking off again . Both he and Chaicharn were immediately taken prisoner ( either by the Vietnam People ' s Army or the Pathet Lao ) and force - marched into the jungle from Boum Lao to Muong Hoc to Doi Sai , near Dien Bien Phu . Brace was held in a bamboo cage with his limbs and neck bound to prevent escape . During his captivity he was beaten , interrogated , and faced with a mock execution . He escaped 6 June 1965 for a few days before being caught stealing food from a village . Upon his return to the cage his legs were put in stocks and bolted . He escaped on 17 April 1966 , and was recaptured in minutes . Next buried up to his chin for seven days , Brace hit his low point and attempted to hang himself on 10 December 1967 . He was sent in October 1968 to a POW camp on the outskirts of Hanoi nicknamed the The Plantation , where he met John McCain in the cell next to him . Brace re - tells his story in Season 8 of " Locked Up Abroad " Like Jim Bedinger , he was sequestered from other prisoners because he had been captured in Laos . Before Doug Hegdahl ' s early release from the captivity , Brace contacted Hegdahl to ensure the outside world knew about the prisoners captured in Laos . Post - release . He was released on March 28 , 1973 , spending 7 years , 10 months and 7 days in captivity , making him the longest - held civilian POW in Vietnam . Brace had not been listed as a prisoner during the past 7 years . His wife Patricia assumed her husband was dead and she remarried ; a fact Brace found out at the processing station after his release . While receiving out - patient care in Naval Medical Center San Diego , Brace met and married a nurse stationed there . He moved to her hometown of Klamath Falls , Oregon where he has since resided . In light of Brace ' s time as a POW , President Gerald Ford issued him a full pardon as well as an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps . Brace worked for a few years in the late 1970s as a manager for Evergreen International Aviation , supporting aviation contracts for the United Nations in South Vietnam , Africa , and Mexico . He would go on to work as an operations lead for Sikorsky Aircraft with other overseas contracts .