Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War by Bruce Henderson Read Free Book Online

300 yards away. Precision marksmanship combined with his outdoor experience made Dieter a great hunter. Too, when anyone downed game, he was ready with a sharpened hunting knife to do the cleaning, skinning, and butchering—skills he had learned working for the butcher in Calw. The brothers loved camping together. Harking back to their childhood days in the Black Forest, they often “played survival games.” Dieter would set traps, using string, hooks, and bent branches to snare small game as their mother had taught them years earlier. They would soon be roasting rabbit or other wild game on a spit over a roaring fire. Then there were the wilderness scenarios on which Dieter would constantly challenge Martin. “Martin, what would you do if a bear came in from that direction?” Or: “People are chasing us, Martin. What do we do?” One time while skiing at Squaw Valley, Dieter dug himself into the snow and had Martin bury him up to his neck. It was an exercise to see howquickly he could get out of an avalanche, Dieter explained. Then he went to work extracting himself.
    The brothers could disagree, and even fought, although when they were growing up it had always been Dieter who imposed his will on Martin. Their biggest fight as adults—a real donnybrook—was over a prized ski sweater from Switzerland that belonged to Martin. Seeing a sweater that looked like his on a girl at City College, Martin asked where she got it. “From Dieter Dengler for my birthday,” she said. After years of submitting to Dieter, Martin drew the line. He came home furious, and the brothers argued. Martin gathered all his clothes from Dieter’s room and was heading down the hallway when Dieter charged from the opposite direction. “This must be yours, too,” Dieter said, throwing a wadded-up shirt in Martin’s face. Martin dropped the clothes, and the fight was on. They grappled in the hallway, down some stairs, and through the house. Martin, who was a college wrestler, frustrated Dieter with his quickness and holds, and they fought to a draw, both left cut and bloodied.
    Notwithstanding their fisticuffs, either brother would defend the other. Late one night, they were sitting in a pizza joint in San Francisco when a group of young men walked in. One of them, whom Martin recognized as a former boxer at Lincoln High School, had on a red-and-white beanie. A smiling Dieter said, “I like your hat,” to which the wise guy responded, “If you want it why don’t you take it?” Accepting the invitation, Dieter stood up to do so. Martin reached the guy first, and in a flash took the guy’s hat off his head. The boxer swung. Martin ducked and drove for his legs, taking him down hard. One of the boxer’s friends jumped forward to help, but found he had his hands full with Dieter. The fight lasted until four policemen broke it up. Dieter and Martin were placed in a paddy wagon to go to the station and be booked.
    At that point, Dieter decided to fake a heart attack. He did it so convincingly that Martin thought his brother was dying until Dieter squeezed his hand. The policemen “got really scared” by Dieter’s loud groans, his wild gyrations, and the spittle drooling from his mouth. They called an ambulance and began pumping Dieter’s chest. By the time the paramedics arrived, the cops had forgotten all about booking anyone. Dieter was transferred tothe ambulance and Martin was allowed to accompany him. When they reached the hospital emergency room, Dieter stood up, said he was feeling much better, thanked the paramedics, and, with Martin at his side, strolled out of the hospital. “If they had booked me,” Dieter told his brother, “I would never become a navy pilot.”
    Dieter and Martin decided to join a fraternity. They both went through various initiations and humiliations, including being taken, in the middle of the night, to some surrounding hills and ordered to strip and be at school by 7:00 A.M . Dieter went through it all