U.S. Special Forces Prisoners of the Vietcong Exhibit

Press Release from the ASOM: A very special exhibit will be on display in the Airborne & Special Operations Museum’s (ASOM) temporary exhibit hall, opening at 10 a.m. Friday, February 10, through January of 2013. “The Animal Called POW”: U.S. Special Forces Prisoners of the Vietcong describes the experience of U.S. Special Forces and Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) prisoners held in South Vietnam. The exhibit will also cover rescue missions, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training and modern prisoners of war.

Raymond C. Shrump a prisoner of five years is quoted “Some of these men died in my presence, and I can assure you not one—not one ever lost faith in his country, his God, or in you, his fellow man.” Utilizing dioramas and media technology the visitors will be immersed in the times. According to Dr. Nicole Suarez, Museum curator, “Nineteen prisoners of war will be highlighted; some of these soldiers and/or their families will be at the opening of the exhibit.”

A focal point in the exhibit is Colonel James “Nick” Rowe a U. S. Army officer, one of only thirty-four American prisoners of war to escape captivity during the Vietnam War. Rowe was kept in a cage made of saplings, measuring 3 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet. The exhibit includes a realistic “tiger cage”, a replica of the one that imprisoned Rowe. Rowe later developed the rigorous SERE training program taught to high-risk military personnel. Visitors will be able to enter an immersive indoctrination hut an example of one used in the U Minh Forest, better known as the "Forest of Darkness," in southern Vietnam.

A quote by Daniel Pitzer captured with Rowe has been contributed for the title of the exhibit. “…having spent four years in the hands of the VC, I will never again be the same after being the animal called POW.”



Photo, left, of Ike Camacho at the exhibit opening ceremony. The exhibit has been made possible by the support of Booz, Allen, Hamilton; the S.E.R.E school at Camp MacKall, North Carolina; United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC); Fort Bragg Department of Plans, Training and Management; The Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation and many more. A press only event has been scheduled for Friday, 3 February 2012 from 11am to 2pm.

New POW Exhibit

Billy Waugh sends: If you are in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area on 10 Feb 2012, then at 1000 hours, at the Downtown Airborne and SF Museum, a new display will open, featuring POW's of the Vietnam War.

Featured will be items belonging to Nick Rowe, as well as Kenneth Roraback, Isaac Camacho, and others whom were held captive interned during the war of Vietnam.

I have heard from Dr. Nicole Suarez, one of the Curators of this huge Museum, that a model of the Punishment Hole, where POW escapee Isaac Camacho was tossed often for not cooperating with the "Commissioner" of NVA POW Camp Bravo-20 (In the jungles of Cambodia, near the SVN/Cambodian border just north of the Tay Ninh Province village of Katum, SVN).

The years of capture and POW internment of Isaac Camacho, Kenneth Roraback, George Smith, and Claude McClure were from 1963-1965. Isaac Camacho, who had been an 12B4S (SF Heavy Weapons Man of Detachment A-21, 5th SF TDY from Fort Bragg, NC), fought his tail off, but was butt-stroked then captured by the NVA who flattened the SF Camp in the III Corps area of Vietnam, near the Parrot's Beak area of Cambodia.

Isaac Camacho and his wife Grace will be at the opening of this POW display there in Fayetteville , NC . I am certain that Isaac and Grace C. would love to see you once again, and shake the hand of each of you.

I have included a sketch of the Punishment Hole, from the web-site which coincides with the book Isaac Camacho, an American Hero, that site being a 135-page depiction describing the various book actions http://www.isaaccamachoamericanhero.com/

Click on the photo below to see a larger, clearer image.

Ike Camacho, an American Hero - now being Published

The book, Isaac Camacho, an American Hero is being published (printed) now. CSM (ret) Billy Waugh will be taking 300 copies with him to San Antonio where he will conduct a book signing, with Ike and Gracie Camacho on 4th and 5th March 2010. Billy will also be in San Antonio for the SFA Chapter 15 Induction of Officers.

Billy plans on coming to El Paso, later in the spring, for another book signing.
You can order the book by going to the following web site and locating the book order instructions on the home page:

http://www.isaaccamachoamericanhero.com

Please visit this website and especially the last page of the Photo Section to view the dedication page, and listen to Dolly Parton singing the last stanza of the Ballad of the Green Beret.

Billy’s wife, Lynn Waugh, who has donated yearly to the Annual Chapter IX John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament, is the owner of an LLC, and her LLC bought the rights to the book, and is handling the sales of the book which now, can be ordered. You can call the following number to order the book: (813) 909-0832.

When Lynn Waugh receives a call for a book, depending on where the person is located, she will quote a shipping price to that particular area.

Quote from Billy Waugh on his new book: “Isaac Camacho, in my view, deserves every plaudit and acclamation he can possibly receive, regardless of the fact that this escape occurred 45 years back; this escape is a lesson / a study for those men and women of our US Military; and what determination and resolve, in a horrendous situation, is all about; and, may give these military lads and lasses inner strength to draw on, should they become prisoners of an enemy force. Also, this book strums at the very heart of all Veterans and their families. I know it does this to my heart - as Isaac did well - to say it succinctly.”

Isaac Camacho - Chapter namesake

Isaac Camacho was a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant serving in an SF Base Camp, Hiep Hoa, SVN when the base camp was attacked and overun by the Viet Cong on 24 November 1963. Ike was subsquently captured with three other Army SF soldiers and marched over 150 kilometers to the COSVN POW Camp B-20 where he was shackled by the leg, chained to a tree, caged like a wild dog - in the triple canopy jungle. He is worked like an animal; tossed into the ‘punishment-hole’ often; routinely interrogated by a COSVN Commissioner; Interrogated by two Cuban Officials, a Chinese Official, and interviewed by an Australian Journalist, and along the way Isaac Camacho suffered from Falcipurm Malaria, Hepatitis “C”, and beri-beri, losing 50+ pounds of weight. Throughout 21 months of captivity in the open jungle Ike never lost his resolve, determination, or decidedness to escape his cage, for the purpose of living up to the Military Code of Conduct – and to ‘fight another day’ against an enemy of the United States. Isaac Camacho escaped during a driving monsoon rain - through the upper bars of his cage within 8 meters of the duty guard; evaded search by a Viet Cong patrol with dogs; making his way 50KM to the south, to a friendly US Army Special Forces A-Camp – at Minh Thanh, SVN on 13 July 1965. Chapter IX, SFA was named after Ike when it was believed he was KIA. Ike serves the community today, both the Special Forces community and the El Paso community at large with appearances at many events; talking to high schoolers about serving their country; through the Chapter's charitable events; and, through his suport of the Jerry Rainey Memorial Scholarship, named after Ike's close friend and lifelong Chapter member, Jerry Rainey, a former Special Forces medic.