"It's very important to exercise your mind in prison." (Video Interview)

Roger Dean Ingvalson

Roger Ingvalson, 2003 War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Air Force Service Location: Lackland Air Force Base and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas; Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi; Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Oxnard Air Base, California; Iceland; Bunker Hill Air Base, Indiana; Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; Turner Air Force Base, Georgia; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina; Kadena Air Base, Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Island); Korat Air Base, Thailand; England Air Force Base in Louisiana; Vietnam Rank: Colonel POW: Yes Place of Birth: Austin, MN

When Roger Ingvalson was shot down over North Vietnam on May 28, 1968, he was already a veteran pilot, with nearly twenty years in the Air Force and over 100 missions flown in Vietnam. He spent his 40th birthday in captivity and wound up at the notorious Hanoi Hilton. Ingvalson kept his mind busy by studying insects and by communicating with his fellow prisoners through special codes. And he kept his North Vietnamese captors at bay by feeding them false information. He attributes his ability to survive five years of deprivation and isolation to his religious faith.