Douglas Hegdahl was 20 years old when he fell overboard from the USS Canberra in the Gulf of Tonkin on April 6, 1967. He spent hours drifting before fishermen handed him over to the North Vietnamese. He ended up in Hỏa Lò Prison, the one the prisoners called the Hanoi Hilton.
Inside, he chose a strategy that seemed far from heroic: pretending to be stupid. He pretended not to know how to read or write. The guards believed him so completely that they nicknamed him “the incredibly stupid one” and gave him the freedom to sweep the camp.
With that freedom, and with the help of pilot Joseph Crecca, he memorized the names, capture dates, and details of 256 prisoners. He used the melody of Old MacDonald Had a Farm so he would not forget any of them.
In August 1969, North Vietnam decided to release him as a propaganda gesture. Hegdahl refused out of honor. It was Commander Richard Stratton who ordered him to accept.
When he returned, he handed over every name. 256 families finally learned whether the person they were waiting for was alive.
