Captive Warriors: A Vietnam POW's Story

by Sam Johnson, Jan Winebrenner, Rod Keitz (Illustrator)

Overview

“Captive Warriors is, from the beginning to end, a thoughtful, well-written, and insightful true story of endurance and survival in some of the most desperate circumstances imaginable.”—Booklist

“Captive Warriors stands as a remarkable testament to courage and the strength of convictions. It is a book with lessons for us all.”—Dallas Morning News 

“More than just Johnson’s own story, Captive Warriors is a tribute to all the American prisoners of war.”—Veterans’ Voice of America

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623499105
Publisher:	Texas A&M University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2025
Series:	Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series , #23
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

SAM JOHNSON served twenty-nine years in the US Air Force in Korea and Vietnam. He earned two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with Valor, the Meritorious Service Medal, and nine other medals, including two Purple Hearts. In 1991 he was elected to the US Congress and served until January 2019; he lives in Dallas, Texas. JAN WINEBRENNER is a freelance writer who lives in Plano, Texas. She grew up on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northern Arizona and studied English literature and education at Northern Arizona University and John Brown University. She has published numerous feature articles and books. She is a frequent speaker for writers’ groups and conferences.

Editorial Reviews

Among prisoner of war memoirs, which all remind us of the brutality of war and the staggering toll it takes on the individual, Vietnam POW accounts are especially powerful reminders of what the ordinary soldier is sometimes forced to endure. Johnson, presently a Congressman from Texas, was an Air Force pilot shot down over North Vietnam in 1966. He spent the next seven years of his life in brutally inhumane conditions that tested his strength and will to survive in ways he never believed possible. His personal struggle, assisted by the love and compassion of his fellow POWs, forms the heart and soul of the book. Captive Warriors is as fine a work as James and Sybil Stockdale's In Love and War ( LJ 8/84) and Chained Eagle ( LJ 11/1/89) by Everett Alvarez Jr. and Anthony S. Pitch. Recommended for Vietnam collections.-- John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.

Library Journal

"In Sam Johnson, patriotism, smarts, guts and humor are combined. The best actor to play his roll in a movie would be Jimmy Stewart at age 40. His book about Alcatraz will provide major insights on the Vietnam experience."--Sen. Jeremiah A. Denton, Rear Admiral USN (Ret.)

Sen. Jeremiah A. Denton

"In Sam Johnson, patriotism, smarts, guts and humor are combined. The best actor to play his roll in a movie would be Jimmy Stewart at age 40. His book about Alcatraz will provide major insights on the Vietnam experience."—Sen. Jeremiah A. Denton, Rear Admiral USN (Ret.)

Sen. - Jeremiah A. Denton