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Chained Eagle
The first American pilot shot down over North Vietnam recounts his eight and one half years as a POW, years of near-starvation, isolation, and torture.
308 pages, Hardcover
First published November 11, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 14, 2021
I read this over a decade ago and parts still resonate with me today. What a hero he, and our POWs in Vietnam were.
June 30, 2025
Depressing and inspiring. The fact that his wife cheated on him during his captivity, remarried and charged him with abandonment for being a POW is a reminder of how low civilians are.
December 18, 2017
Commander Alvarez,
I must start this review by saluting you, sir.
This book should be read by every politician and citizen of any country. It's the story of the longest-held POW of the Vietnam War era. Commander Alvarez endured EIGHT AND ONE HALF YEARS of deprivation, torture, filth, vermin, parasites, sadistic jailers, insects, cold, heat, fear, starvation; and through all that, he didn't lose his faith or his mind. He made it home, finally.
You cannot even begin to know what this man endured for his country. Only those who were there with him can understand. The ones who did manage to make it home arrived as changed men. They were not the young, idealistic boys they had been in the earlier stage of their lives.
Regardless of your beliefs or feelings about that era in our history, Everett Alvarez --and all the others who suffered as POWs, grunts in the jungles, nurses in the field hospitals, and their families-- deserve the utmost respect and gratitude from the citizens of the United States of America. They were called. They obeyed. All gave some; some gave ALL.
Read this book!
I must start this review by saluting you, sir.
This book should be read by every politician and citizen of any country. It's the story of the longest-held POW of the Vietnam War era. Commander Alvarez endured EIGHT AND ONE HALF YEARS of deprivation, torture, filth, vermin, parasites, sadistic jailers, insects, cold, heat, fear, starvation; and through all that, he didn't lose his faith or his mind. He made it home, finally.
You cannot even begin to know what this man endured for his country. Only those who were there with him can understand. The ones who did manage to make it home arrived as changed men. They were not the young, idealistic boys they had been in the earlier stage of their lives.
Regardless of your beliefs or feelings about that era in our history, Everett Alvarez --and all the others who suffered as POWs, grunts in the jungles, nurses in the field hospitals, and their families-- deserve the utmost respect and gratitude from the citizens of the United States of America. They were called. They obeyed. All gave some; some gave ALL.
Read this book!
July 20, 2025
The first U.S. soldier to be held as a POW in North Vietnam and he held for 8 years! Endures starvation, beatings, torture, filth, loss of dignity and many other cruel and inhuman treatments. He details his life as a POW, remembers dates and many other details -- how can people remember so many things like this years after they happened? As if that is not enough, his new bride leaves him.
He never loses his Christian faith and also never loses his solidarity with other American POWs even while being tortured. He also discusses, with the help of a co-author, the things his family went through. His parent's marriage could not survive. A sister became a hard-core anti-war protester and created much tension within the family.
Eventually, the author comes home, meets and marries another woman and becomes a successful member of society. Amazingly, I do not remember reading any hatred of the Vietnamese and seemed to want to put that chapter of his life in the rearview mirror and move on with his life. Which he did.
Quite an inspiration.
He never loses his Christian faith and also never loses his solidarity with other American POWs even while being tortured. He also discusses, with the help of a co-author, the things his family went through. His parent's marriage could not survive. A sister became a hard-core anti-war protester and created much tension within the family.
Eventually, the author comes home, meets and marries another woman and becomes a successful member of society. Amazingly, I do not remember reading any hatred of the Vietnamese and seemed to want to put that chapter of his life in the rearview mirror and move on with his life. Which he did.
Quite an inspiration.
November 24, 2024
More people should know this man’s story. He fought for a cause he was being tricked into but his bravery and love for his country is an example.
August 13, 2025
Bullies Lose
Free Speach is the Cornerstone of Democracy
Free Speach is the Cornerstone of Democracy
November 26, 2014
Chained Eagle is a straightforward account of a brutal and horrific eight and a half years that US Navy pilot Lt Everett Alvarez spent as a prisoner in North Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. His captivity spanned practically the entire time of the United States' involvement in Vietnam. The book is mainly concerned with the torture to which Alvarez and his fellow prisoners were subjected, and what they did to stay alive and sane.
For me, the most interesting parts were Alvarez's recounting of two historic air actions in which he flew.
First, flying an A-4 Skyhawk with attack squadron VA-144 (the "Roadrunners") from the carrier USS Constellation, Alvarez and two squadron mates provided air support for the destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy on the night of 4 August 1964 when they reported that they were under attack from North Vietnamese patrol boats. However, the authenticity of this attack—part of the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident"—is highly debatable at best. And Alvarez, who was right there above the destroyers, recounts a lot of confusion among inexperienced officers and seamen, but no evidence of enemy vessels, let alone an attack. This is the first account I've read of this incident by an airman, and indeed, I didn't know that aircraft had been deployed in response to the Maddox and Turner Joy's predicament.
Second, Alvarez flew in the "Pierce Arrow" raids the following day, attacking the patrol boat base at Hon Gai, and it was during this action—the very first shots of the Vietnam War—that he was shot down. Nevertheless, Alvarez provides an eyewitness account of this historic raid.
These accounts of those two incidents by somebody who was actually there made the whole book worthwhile to me.
The torture that follows his capture is, relatively speaking, very basic and unsophisticated, consisting almost entirely of (sometimes severe) beatings and being forced into various stress positions for extended periods. It is noteworthy, however, for its arbitrariness and unpredictability. Alvarez and most of his fellow inmates decided from the beginning to be as unco-operative as possible. Sometimes, their attitude would be met by puzzlement and no repercussions whatsoever; but at other times—seemingly without reason or pattern—similar acts of defiance would be punished severely.
It was also interesting to note that in the early days of his captivity, the North Vietnamese authorities told him that since there was no state of war between the United States and North Vietnam, he was not a prisoner of war and was therefore not subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention. Their plan then, as stated to Alvarez, was to try him as a criminal for the damage, injury, and loss of life sustained in the raid. Many years later, this is a similar line of legal reasoning that the United States has used against some of its prisoners in the "War on Terror". History repeats in some unexpected ways sometimes.
Chained Eagle is more a chronicle than anything else, and is an invaluable primary source due to this alone. I didn't find it engaging or insightful, though, but that's practically irrelevant to Alvarez's purpose to "tell it like it is". My two-star rating is simply a personal reaction and does not reflect the importance of this book or Alvarez's success at his purpose.
For me, the most interesting parts were Alvarez's recounting of two historic air actions in which he flew.
First, flying an A-4 Skyhawk with attack squadron VA-144 (the "Roadrunners") from the carrier USS Constellation, Alvarez and two squadron mates provided air support for the destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy on the night of 4 August 1964 when they reported that they were under attack from North Vietnamese patrol boats. However, the authenticity of this attack—part of the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident"—is highly debatable at best. And Alvarez, who was right there above the destroyers, recounts a lot of confusion among inexperienced officers and seamen, but no evidence of enemy vessels, let alone an attack. This is the first account I've read of this incident by an airman, and indeed, I didn't know that aircraft had been deployed in response to the Maddox and Turner Joy's predicament.
Second, Alvarez flew in the "Pierce Arrow" raids the following day, attacking the patrol boat base at Hon Gai, and it was during this action—the very first shots of the Vietnam War—that he was shot down. Nevertheless, Alvarez provides an eyewitness account of this historic raid.
These accounts of those two incidents by somebody who was actually there made the whole book worthwhile to me.
The torture that follows his capture is, relatively speaking, very basic and unsophisticated, consisting almost entirely of (sometimes severe) beatings and being forced into various stress positions for extended periods. It is noteworthy, however, for its arbitrariness and unpredictability. Alvarez and most of his fellow inmates decided from the beginning to be as unco-operative as possible. Sometimes, their attitude would be met by puzzlement and no repercussions whatsoever; but at other times—seemingly without reason or pattern—similar acts of defiance would be punished severely.
It was also interesting to note that in the early days of his captivity, the North Vietnamese authorities told him that since there was no state of war between the United States and North Vietnam, he was not a prisoner of war and was therefore not subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention. Their plan then, as stated to Alvarez, was to try him as a criminal for the damage, injury, and loss of life sustained in the raid. Many years later, this is a similar line of legal reasoning that the United States has used against some of its prisoners in the "War on Terror". History repeats in some unexpected ways sometimes.
Chained Eagle is more a chronicle than anything else, and is an invaluable primary source due to this alone. I didn't find it engaging or insightful, though, but that's practically irrelevant to Alvarez's purpose to "tell it like it is". My two-star rating is simply a personal reaction and does not reflect the importance of this book or Alvarez's success at his purpose.
August 26, 2018
On August 5, 1964, while Lt. Everett Alvarez was flying a retaliatory air strike against naval targets in North Vietnam, antiaircraft fire crippled his A-4 fighter-bomber, forcing him to eject over water at low altitude. Alvarez relates the engrossing tale of his capture by fishermen, brutal treatment by the North Vietnamese, physical and mental endurance, and triumphant repatriation nearly nine years later in 1973. Alvarez spent more time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam than any other flier. As Senator John McCain, a fellow POW, has written, "During his captivity, Ev exhibited a courage, compassion, and indomitable will that was an inspiration to us all." Indeed, the book, which was written with Anthony S. Pitch, is remarkable for its lack of rancor. Alvarez directs his strongest words against the small number of POWs who broke ranks and collaborated with the enemy. As one reviewer wrote, Alvarez "relates the misery of his condition with a detachment that robs it of its shock value." Chained Eagle also tells the story of the Alvarez family's ordeal during his years of imprisonment: His sister became an anitwar activist, his wife divorced him, and relatives died. Yet throughout his time as a prisoner of war, Alvarez remained duty-bound and held steadfast to his religious faith and the values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
September 14, 2016
I found it to be a bit hard to start this book, but halfway I found it difficult to put it down.
Very welcome book about the atrocities POW's endured in Vietnam. Unbelievable how they did survive that hell on earth.
Very welcome book about the atrocities POW's endured in Vietnam. Unbelievable how they did survive that hell on earth.
July 3, 2011
Written by Everette Alvarez, a Santa Clara University alum. I received a scholarship he established and had the opportunity to meet him when I lived in Washington, D.C.
July 17, 2023
I like reading about tough people and wondering if I could have done it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews