Hanoi Hilton "Pajamas"

Object Details

Carpenter, Allen

Description: Physical Description; Top and bottom of red-and-white-striped cloth which quickly faded to the pinkish-gray color. Initials "CAC" stenciled on patch.; Specific History; These two-toned, "pink" striped "pajamas" were issued to and worn by Commander Allan "Al" Carpenter, USN, a prisoner of war from November 1, 1966, to March 4, 1973. He was flying an A4E Skyhawk with squadron VA-72. His Vietnamese name "CAC" is stenciled on the white aiming patch on the pajamas.; General History; Americans were held as prisoners of war in North Vietnam, but also in Cambodia, China, Laos, and South Vietnam.; From 1961 to 1973, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong held hundreds of Americans captive. In North Vietnam alone, more than a dozen prisons were scattered in and around the capital city of Hanoi. American POWs gave them nicknames: Alcatraz, Briarpatch, Dirty Bird, the Hanoi Hilton, the Zoo. Conditions were appalling; food was watery soup and bread, prisoners were variously isolated, starved, beaten, tortured—for countless hours—and paraded in anti-American propaganda. "It's easy to die but hard to live," a prison guard told one new arrival, "and we'll show you just how hard it is to live."; American prisoners were held at the Hoa Lo prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” from August 11, 1964 to March 28, 1973. The French completed construction of this prison in 1901.

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Exhibition: Price of Freedom
Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-6776-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa