Operation Thunderhead

September 22, 2008
Not one American prisoner of war was rescued by the U.S. military from North Vietnamese or Vietcong POW camps during the Vietnam War. Not for want of trying, though. Military historian and SEAL specialist Dockery (The Weapons of the Navy SEALs
) writes about the little-known last POW rescue mission, in June 1972, which resulted in the death of U.S. Navy Lt. Melvin Spence Dry, one of the special operations officers who undertook the dangerous mission. But Dockery writes about the mission only in the last four chapters of this mistitled book. The first 26 chapters are devoted mainly to the story of U.S. Air Force Capt. John Dramesi, who was shot down on April 2, 1967, and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. Dramesi escaped twice, once from the infamous Hanoi Hilton, only to be recaptured and tortured. He was a main player in the planning of the ill-fated Operation Thunderhead. Dockery offers up less than promised in this drily written book that nonetheless tells an amazing story of survival. Photos.

November 1, 2008
A gifted writer on military affairs here gives us one of his best books. It begins as the story of air force captain John Dranesi, shot down over North Vietnam early in 1967. His captivity was exceptionally harsh because he adamantly refused to cooperate with his captors. He escaped twice, and was nearly tortured to death after recapture the second time. Dockery continues with the account of another Hanoi Hilton escape attempt that was supported by SEAL-carrying submarines and overflights by SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance planes, and which involved the last death of a SEAL in Vietnamall without success. Dockery moves effortlessly from harrowing narratives of imprisonment to exposition on the SEALs and the Blackbird, satisfying general readers with the former and serious military buffs with the latter. Consider this a well-above-average boon to the literatures of POWs, special operations, and the Vietnam Warand not merely an enhancement of Dockerys reputation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)