American Experience

Vietnam POWs recall their ordeals -- at times with great poignancy -- in a first-person history that supplements the comments with North Vietnamese war footage. As the veterans describe it here, their mission was simple, but not easy. "We were determined to return to the U.S. with honor," is the way that Air Force major Fred Cherry puts it. "We were not going to collaborate with the enemy. And we were going to look out for each other." Tom Hanks introduces the film.