American Airman Bill Robinson being guarded by an NVA soldier following his capture on September 20, 1965
Left side: American Airman Bill Robinson being guarded by an NVA soldier following his capture on September 20, 1965; his helicopter was shot down and the crew was taken to the Hanoi Hilton. He became the longest-held POW in American history after spending more than seven years in captivity - he was released from the Hanoi Hilton in February of 1973. While serving as a crew chief aboard a U.S. Air Force Rescue helicopter, Airman First Class William A. Robinson was shot down and captured in Ha Tinh Province, North Vietnam, on September 20, 1965. After a brief stint at the "Hanoi Hilton," Robinson endured 2,703 days in multiple North Vietnamese prison camps, including the notorious Briarpatch and various compounds at Cu Loc, known by the inmates as the Zoo. No enlisted man in American military history has been held as a prisoner of war longer than Robinson. For seven and a half years, he faced daily privations and endured the full range of North Vietnam's torture program.