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CAPTURED: Shot Down In Vietnam — History
CAPTURED: Shot Down In Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, hundreds of American aviators were shot down, imprisoned, and tortured, experiencing the harshest conditions imaginable.

For as many as eight long years, the prisoners of war (POWs) stayed true to their mission and survived behind bars. They communicated through codes and raps on prison walls. They were incredibly brave and resisted enemy propaganda. Their families knew little of their fate.

50 years ago, the US government saved 591 of those POWs from North Vietnamese captivity. Now, hear their personal and intimate stories like never before, from the dramatic moment of being shot down to the tearful family reunion.

CAPTURED features newly re-surfaced recordings from Presidents Richard Nixon and Lyndon B Johnson’s oval offices.

Broadcast veteran Tyler Russell McCusker conducts original interviews with 85-year-old Commander Everett Alvarez Jr., the first American shot down, 91-year-old Captain Eugene “Red” McDaniel, POW families, authors, and historians.

Put yourself into the action with hundreds of historically-accurate sound effects and scene-setting original music compositions that create an immersive, enthralling soundscape.

This new podcast from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation is a compelling and powerful exploration of the human cost of war and the resilience of the American spirit.

Copyright: © Any unauthorized use prohibited.

Latest Episodes:

Introducing: If Nixon Stayed (Trailer) Aug 09, 2024

Introducing a new docuseries, from the team that brought you CAPTURED: Shot Down In Vietnam, that reimagines the course of history. Using newly-released archival materials, expert interviews and historical analysis, this podcast takes a deep-dive to explore what could have been if President Nixon continued the success of his 1972 landslide election victory to complete his second term and fulfill his bold vision of peace and prosperity for a new American century.

“Therefore, I should resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.” When President Richard Nixon somberly delivered those words on August 8, 1974, as millions of Americans watched on primetime TV, he made history. For many, that’s one of the few things they know about the 37th president. But that same president less than two years earlier won one of the biggest landslide victories in the history of US presidential elections.

In his second inaugural address, President Nixon laid out a bold vision for his second term stating, “Let us pledge together to make these next four years the best four years in America’s history, so that on its 200th birthday American will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a beacon of hope for all the world.”

This six-part series envisions how world history could have been altered with a completed second-term of Nixon’s presidency including: a different outcome in Vietnam, a reshaping of Middle East alliances, the creation of a big tent Republican party, an ambitious reduction of the federal bureaucracy and an expansion of visionary domestic programs in areas including healthcare and energy.

Fifty years after President Nixon’s historical resignation, it’s time to challenge assumptions about the past, explore what could have been and contemplate how the ripples of history shape the future.

Coming this Fall ...

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Bonus Episode | An Interview w/ Sid Stockdale Nov 11, 2023

Recorded live at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum's 50th-Anniversary Reunion for former Vietnam War POWs in May 2023, Sid Stockdale, one of Vice Admiral Jim and League of Wives co-founder Sybil Stockdale's four sons, joins Tyler to discuss what he remembers of his parents' critical roles in the Vietnam POW crisis and how their impact reverberates five decades later.

Sid's book, A World Apart: Growing Up Stockdale During Vietnam, is available now.

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Chapter 10: Freedom Bird Jul 17, 2023

The finale of our story brings us to December 1972, as President Richard Nixon's administration strives to bring an end to the stalemate in peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese.

In this episode, we'll hear how Operation Homecoming came to bring 591 POWs home in February of 1973, 8.5 long years after Everett's capture.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.

CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 9: The Son Tay Raid Jul 10, 2023

In November of 1970, fifty-six U.S. Special Forces soldiers executed the most ambitious rescue mission of the Vietnam War, raiding a North Vietnamese prison camp known as "Son Tay," just outside of Hanoi.

In this episode, we hear from Terry Buckler, the youngest of the Son Tay Raiders. At the time, he was a 20-year-old Buck Sergeant who had never before seen combat. Despite this lack of experience, Terry was selected out of thousands of top-tier applicants to participate in this hazardous mission.

Terry walks us through the events leading up to the raid and details what happened when their chopper touched down in Son Tay on that cold night -- and how it impacted Everett's, Red's & the other POW's captivity.

Colonel Bull Simons, the leader of the raid, also chimes in via the archived recording of a 1974 interview with Murphy Martin.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.

CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 8: Seal Team Six in Pearls Jun 26, 2023

In Part 2 of our two-part focus on the League of Wives, we examine how exactly this courageous band of women was able to organize under Sybil Stockdale and make a significant impact on the return of their lost men.

We rejoin Andrea Rander, wife of Chief Warrant Officer Donald Rander, and Pat Mearns, wife of Lt. Col. Arthur Mearns, in 1967. Andrea has been notified that Don was a confirmed POW, being held in North Vietnam with several hundred other American servicemen; a surprising phone call in '69 launches her and fellow wives to new heights on a flight to Paris as the women take on a North Vietnamese delegation face-to-face.

Pat had not had the luxury of an update on Art's condition. She shares with us the particular kind of agony that she and the other MIA wives/families were faced with -- that of the unknown.

Soon, Pat and Andrea's paths would cross at the White House, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with President Richard Nixon in their efforts to bring their men home.

We also hear from Pat and Art's daughter, Missy, who shares what it was like for her to cope with the loss of her father at such a tender age.

Expert historian and author Heath Hardage Lee helps break it all down.

You can find Heath's book The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home on Heath's websitewww.heathleeauthor.com or anywhere books are sold.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 7: Not a Widow, Not a Wife Jun 26, 2023

In Part 1 of our two-part focus on the League of Wives, we are introduced to Andrea Rander and Pat Mearns, each young mothers to two girls when their husbands were shot down in North Vietnam.

Guided by expert historian and author Heath Hardage Lee, we set the scene for the League's formation by tracing Andrea and Pat's experiences up until the notification, or lack thereof, that their husbands had been captured.

In the next chapter, we'll focus on how exactly this courageous band of women was able to organize under leader Sybil Stockdale and make a significant impact on the return of their lost men.

You can find Heath's book The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home on Heath's websitewww.heathleeauthor.com or anywhere books are sold.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Intermission: The Tapes Jun 19, 2023

In this special episode, we depart from our central narrative and turn our attention to Washington D.C., where Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson & Richard Nixon were making a crucial impact on the treatment and release of the hundreds of American prisoners of war who were being brutally mistreated in North Vietnamese prisons.

By way of recordings from the White House, curator & historian Bob Bostock walks us down President Nixon's path to the Presidency and examines how his administration's policies on Vietnam intersected with his personal attention to the POW crisis.

Newly-unearthed archival audio, like tapes and phone calls from the Oval Office, will be heavily featured so you can hear from the presidents in their own words.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 5: The Last Word We Heard Jun 12, 2023

Mike McDaniel was nine years old when his father, Capt. Red McDaniel, was shot down and captured in the jungles of North Vietnam on May 19, 1967. It would be three long years until he and the rest of the clan heard any further news on the status of their patriarch.

Meanwhile, Everett hinged his optimism on the dream of an eventual reunion with his wife, whom had promised that she would wait for him forever.

This episode focuses in on Red & Everett's communication (or lack thereof) with their loved ones back on US soil. Though their family members were not forced to endure horrific maltreatment at the hands of the North Vietnamese, they were experiencing their own kind of torture, not knowing the condition of their beloved men.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 4: One Thing After Another Jun 05, 2023

18 months into Cmdr. Everett Alvarez's captivity, the North Vietnamese "torture regime" begins as he and fellow prisoners are forced to endure physical abuse, in addition to mental torture, amidst already-deplorable living conditions.

After Capt. Red McDaniel is shot-down in May of 1967, he, too, is imprisoned in the 'Hanoi Hilton' and immediately subjected to an array of inhumane treatment.In this episode, Everett and Red share some of their most harrowing experiences in captivity, including how their heroic displays of duty & honor overlap in connection with a daring escape attempt.

We explore how they persevered in body and spirit, including lifting fellow POWs up via the impressive "tap code" that was developed to effectively communicate through the cold walls of their cells, right under the noses of their North Vietnamese captors.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez & the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, and hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 3: Hanoi Hilton May 29, 2023

On a crisp afternoon in August of 1964, Everett Alvarez Jr. found himself floating in the emerald waters of Hạ Long Bay, North Vietnam, having just ejected from his flaming A-4 Skyhawk aircraft. He was about to be captured by hostile militia, becoming the first American POW in the Vietnam War.

While President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration escalated aerial bombing attacks in the North, in support of the South Vietnamese, it was said that a war had not "officially" been declared; from Everett's perspective, the so-called "conflict" was about to become all-too official...

This part of our story focuses on Everett's first year in captivity, a time during which he was deemed a "criminal" instead of a "prisoner of war." As the North Vietnamese figured out what to do with him and other captives, ignoring the safeguarding Geneva Conventions, Everett was imprisoned in the Hỏa Lò prison (later known to the American POWs as the “Hanoi Hilton”) and horribly mistreated.

Hear how Everett coped with horrific conditions and solitude in the face of the unknown, and how his sense of duty & honor was tested when faced with the opportunity for early-release.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.

CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez and the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 2: Better Red Than Dead May 22, 2023

The story continues with the harrowing Vietnam wartime experience for Naval Capt. Eugene "Red" McDaniel. His shoot-down and capture, three years after Alvarez's, highlights the differences in preparation American servicemen had for becoming a prisoner of war.

Red was forced to endure North Vietnamese captivity, torture, and egregious mistreatment in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" for more than six long years, many of which his family didn't know whether he was alive or dead. Red, now 91, shares everything from why he forwent the opportunity to become a professional athlete (in favor of intensive aviation training) to his own dramatic moments of being shot down and discovered by the enemy.

We also hear from Red's eldest son, Naval Capt. Mike McDaniel, as he speaks on what it was like for him to experience - and grapple with - his father's POW status at the tender age of nine.

This episode features authentic audio from the mission in which Red and his navigator, Lt. Kelly James Patterson, were forced to eject from their A-1 Skyraider aircraft, never before heard by the public.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.

CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.

If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This series is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez and the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker. Special thanks to Luck Patterson for providing the original shootdown audio from Red's mission.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chapter 1: The First Guy May 22, 2023

We rewind to the year 1964 and are introduced to 26-year-old Naval aviator Everett Alvarez Jr. Hear from the now-85-year-old Commander Alvarez himself, as we follow his journey from modest beginnings in Salinas, CA to the moment of being shot down over North Vietnam, leading to more than eight years as a prisoner of war (POW).

Following a brief period of American peacetime between the years of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, during which he volunteered for duty, Everett would soon be one of a handful of servicemen flying directly into the eye of a brewing storm - one that would quickly become the Vietnam War.

The action kicks off with the Gulf of Tonkin Incident on Aug. 2 of '64, prompting President Lyndon B. Johnson to authorize the very first US aerial attacks on the North Vietnamese. Less than 48 hours later, Everett would be under the canopy of a parachute, crashing down into the hostile waters of the picturesque Ha Long Bay.

Be immersed into that dangerous mission, which led to him becoming the first American POW.

For more info and photos specific to this episode, visit www.capturedpodcast.com.

CAPTURED: Shot Down in Vietnam is a docuseries from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Foundation, produced by the team at Foundwave, and respectfully created in honor of Ross Perot, Sr.If you're interested in learning more about Vietnam POWs, you can visit the new exhibit "CAPTURED" at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.

This show is produced by Steph Weaver-Weinberg. Original music compositions, foley effects, and mastering from Jonathan Rock. Research, background, and history from Jason Schwartz. Executive production from Joe Lopez and the team at Richard Nixon Foundation and Kali Mason from Perot Family Collections. Co-executive production, interviewing, hosting by Tyler Russell McCusker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing CAPTURED (Full Trailer) May 09, 2023

Exactly 50 years ago, the Nixon administration saved 591 prisoners of war from North Vietnamese captivity. Many of them are still with us and willing to tell their stories like never before in this limited docuseries, from the dramatic moment of being shot down to the tearful family reunion.

You will be put into the action with actual audio from the Vietnam era, original interviews with POWs and their families, and newly surfaced recordings from the Nixon and Johnson presidencies.

This is the premiere podcast from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library - in partnership with Foundwave Productions - and created in honor of Ross Perot Sr.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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