Why Didn't You Get Me Out?: A POW's Nightmare in Vietnam

by Frank Anton, Tommy Denton

Frank anton went to Vietnam in 1967 to serve the country he loved. Now, more than thirty years later, he tells the story of how his own government failed him...

For give hellish years, American soldier Frank Anton was held as a POW in Vietnam. Subject to disease, starvation, and physical and psychological torture, Anton and his fellow prisoners held out hope that the U.S. government would find and rescue them.

When he was finally freed in 1973, Anton returned to the United States bruised and battered. And the most devastating blow of all had yet to even be struck. Upon his release, Anton and debriefed by the government and saw both aerial photographs of the prison camps where he was held and a close-us picture of himself walking the grueling Ho Chi Minh Trail. The government had known all along where and when Anton and his fellow soldiers were being held--and made no attempt to rescue them.

now, in this harrowing first-person account and shocking expose, Frank Anton recounts his years as a POW and the aftermath--devoting his life to understanding why and how his own government left him and others to suffer and possibly die in the Vietnamese prison camps. And the answers he's uncovered will forever astound and disturb you.

With eight pages of dramatic photos
A main selection of the Military Book Club

Genres: History, War, Military Fiction

264 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 25, 1997

Reviews

[Ryan Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life.

My mother gave me this book years ago. I read it shortly afterwards. I soon realized that if anything were to ever happen to me, I knew that there would be no immediate rescue attempts. Despite whatever the US Army told us in basic training.

This book opened my eyes to the realization that I was expendable to the US Government, and I accepted that fact. It gave me the mindset to fight harder than ever and to never surrender, because no one would be coming for me, until it was convenient.

[Derek Rutherford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting end to this book with lots of accusations and supposed evidence that long after the Vietnam war was over there were still POWs left to rot in the prisons of Vietnam. I suspect this is probably true (there were mentions in the book that similar things had happened after WW2 and Korea). If this were the case then this is a monstrous thing for the government to sit on, do nothing about, cover up, etc. I can't understand why more open investigations weren't demanded. The shadowy world of government, I suppose. There may even be such prisoners still alive today, which is a very terrible and sobering thought.

The rest of the book wasn't so interesting.

[Chico C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was given to me by a friend who highly recommended it. I did enjoy it. Frank Anton went through hell as a POW in Vietnam. It is very mesmerizing in parts, keeping you glued to your chair wondering what will happen next. Good read for anyone interested in the Vietnam War.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book not only on content but clarity and punctuality. As POW books go Frank Anton, in so few pages, describes his 5 years of internment both in the jungles of South Vietnam but the infamous "Plantation" located in Noth Vietnam. The discrepencies between internment in the jungle or the brick and mortar locations in the North seperate the different difficulties that both sets of Vietnam POW's experienced. John Anton experienced both in his 5 years of incarceration.
But the book offers more than the personal psychological and physical hell that he and the other prisoners of war went through. The book can best be broken up in three categories. The first was his capture and internment. The Second was the trial and reflection on "crossovers" such as Bobby Garwood and how the author, and other former prisoners, viewed the man and his trial. The last portion of the book which the title relates to far more than the other two sections previous mentioned is "Why didn't the U.S. government rescue Mr. Anton and his fellow jungle captives?" Frightening revelations are presented at the books closure that not just the author but numerous POW's were known to exist and because of politics and closure were left as collateral damage after the 1973 "Homecoming". He presents facts that the U.S. military knew where he was being held in the numerous jungle camps located within South Vietnam and Laos but did nothing to extradite him and others. In some ways more frightening than his personal experiences in the jungle is this big unanswered questions at the end of his book. Why was Warrant Officer Anton along with the other prisoner left? Why has the Pentagon and U.S. Government, especially the Senate committees, ignored or covered up the existence of live POW's left after the war? And why when questions were raised they were ignored? "Why Didn't You Get Me Out" is more than a survival story or the haunting condition of POW's in the Vietnam war. It is a book that continues to ask questions.

[Kevin Lake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written from beginning to end, as if written by a professional literature professonal. They story however, is one of amazement that could only be told through the eyes of a POW who had lived it.

I have recently returned from Iraq myself, a little bitter and untrusting of my government, yet what I experienced pales in comparison to Chief Anton's ordeal. The heart wrenching description of his treatment in captivity was unimagianable. To find out, once he returned home, that the US government knew where he was the entire time, inexcusable!!!

This work was so well written and flowed so smoothly that I was able to finish it in only two sittings. The story being so captivating as it was helped with this, as I simply did not want to put this book down. Anyone who has ever served in the military needs to read this book and tell their friends.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told with remarkable dispassion, this is the quiet, unembittered account of the five years Frank Anton spent as a POW, refusing to give up hope because he believed that surely, his country must be looking for him. It wasn't. It didn't have to. It already knew where he was. Anton doesn't exploit the pathos of his story, but he pulls no punches when he argues that the US also knew of hundreds of other POWs in Vietnam---POWs who, like him, were abandoned by a government frantic to forget a nasty war; POWs who, even three decades later, have never come home. In answer to the title's stark question, he concludes simply that "there were limits to the value placed by the government on men who fell into the enemy's hands."

Leave no man behind?

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found myself not really liking Frank Anton as a person. I deeply admire him for what he lived thru and his sacrifices for our country. He tended to try and make a lot of excuses for himself and was very willing to place blame on others. I did find his discussion and experiences about Bobby Garwood (American POW in Vietnam accused of collaborating with the enemy)to be insightful.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. His experience is a lot different than those of POWs that were pilots as he spent the first three years in the jungle, while pilots were taken to the Hanoi Hilton.

Definitely inspired me to read more on this subject...

[G Ream · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shame on us in the USA - this should never be allowed to happen.

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked it

[Colleen Lahey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. Government knows that WE STILL HAVE POW's left in Vietnam today.