I've always been fascinated with the parts of history that seem to fly right under the radar of general knowledge. Those interesting little tidbits of history that after we discover find ourselves asking, “how does everyone not know this?”
Radio Diaries is a podcast that consistently shines a spotlight on some part of history or culture that has remained quietly hidden in plain sight. Their episode, 'Prisoners of War' stands out as a remarkable and heartbreaking story about American prisoners not in a Vietnamese prison, but an American military prison on the outskirts of Saigon called Long Binh Jaol or “LBJ” for short.
We hear the stories directly from Vietnam Veterans who lived through the ordeal of serving and surviving as military prisoners. These are men who were convicted of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, sentenced to serve time at LBJ, and for some are only now breaking their silence of what they experienced. These are stories of violence, riots, racial discrimination, and the consequences of an overcrowded prison in the middle fo the Vietnam conflict. After hearing this episode I asked many of my fellow veterans if they'd ever heard of the LBJ prison or about the Vietnam stockades. Like myself, many hadn't. 'Prisoners of War' is an essential part of the story that is the Vietnam conflict and what transpired on August 29th, 1968 is the kind of thing that made me ask, “how does everyone not know this?”