U.S. Senator John McCain was held as a prisoner at the facility known as the "Hanoi Hilton" after being shot down in 1967.
January 01, 1967
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John McCain, later a U.S. senator, was among the most widely known American POWs held in North Vietnam.
The photograph titled "Burst of Joy," taken by Associated Press photographer Sal Veder, won a Pulitzer Prize and is widely recognized as an iconic photojournalistic image.
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The image shows a family reuniting with a returning U.S. service member and has enduring recognition in news and media history.
The prison known as the "Hanoi Hilton" in North Vietnam was used to hold American prisoners of war and has been reported to subject detainees to torture and starvation, particularly pilots shot down during bombing raids.
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The "Hanoi Hilton" is a commonly used name for North Vietnamese prisons that detained U.S. airmen and other POWs during the Vietnam War.
Prisoners of war in North Vietnam at times communicated through walls in solitary confinement using tapping codes.
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Tapping codes were a method used by detainees to transmit messages between cells or through walls when verbal communication was impossible.