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

until one day at the fraternity house when he was doing push-ups as ordered by two frat brothers. With one of them standing on each side of him, they simultaneously jerked his arms out from under him, causing him to fall flat on his face. “More push-ups!” one of them yelled. Dieter came off the floor like an enraged bull, slugging both the frat boys. “Don’t ever do that again,” Dieter said. “I want to be in your club but don’t be stupid with me.” With that, Dieter dropped to the floor for more push-ups. By the time of the pinning ceremony a few weeks later, Dieter had changed his mind. Although Martin stayed for his fraternity pin, Dieter announced to the group, before walking out, “I’ve been watching you guys. You have no idea what life is about. You’re all just out of high school. I don’t want to be part of your club or be around you guys. And I don’t want to pay thirty-five dollars to join.”
    After a year at City College, Dieter hit a stumbling block of his own making. Although he had already passed the mathematics examination required for graduation, Dieter feared he would not pass the required English exam. Having come to the United States as an adult with limited exposure to English, Dieter would always speak, write, and think best in German. Yet this exam covering English grammar and spelling was a requirement for a two-year degree. Learning that Martin was scheduled to take the English test first, Dieter asked a favor: after he filled out his answer sheet, could Martin smuggle out the test?
    Martin knew all about Dieter’s propensity to get what he wanted with little regard for rules, tradition, or, at times, consideration of others. Martin did not make excuses for Dieter’s ways or methods, although he understood where they came from. In fact, having experienced a childhood in the poverty of postwar Germany, Martin had some similar tendencies, likesplicing into a neighbor’s cable for television and radio reception and being caught only when the other guy reported reception problems. Together in San Francisco, he and Dieter climbed telephone poles and “dropped wires down” in order to make free calls to Germany and elsewhere.
    Indisputably, Dieter’s daring and calculating ways had helped the family eat and survive in desperate times. To Martin, Dieter was still the hero of Calw. More than once Dieter had saved Martin’s hide, sometimes by reputation alone. When Martin was pounced on by a gang of toughs ten miles from home, they stopped when he hollered, “My brother is Dieter!” In a real sense, Martin, even in adulthood, was continuing to try to repay his older brother for being there for him throughout the years.
    So, Martin smuggled out the English test and gave it to Dieter.
    Dieter went into the examination room having memorized the multiple-choice answers to each question on the standardized test. The only problem was that he was given a different test, which he of course flunked. Told that he could retake the exam until he passed it, Dieter came back the following week. When he was handed the test, he said helpfully, “This is the same one I took last week.” The monitor thanked him for his honesty, and handed him another test form—the version that Dieter had memorized.
    The first one called into the dean’s office was Martin. Although there was no question in anyone’s mind that Martin had legitimately passed the test, the monitor had reported one copy of the test missing after the session. Then, oddly enough, his brother Dieter went from “flunking to 100 percent correct,” said the dean. The dean went on to say that he liked Martin, and hoped that he would tell the truth because it would be a shame for him to be kicked out of school. Martin told the truth, and went home and told Dieter to do the same. When it was his turn before the dean, Dieter was given a choice: withdraw voluntarily, or be expelled for cheating. Dieter took the out he was offered. His