VictoriaTaft.com Blogforce member Rees Lloyd recommends “Defiant” by Alvin Townley to remind us of the sacrifice and heroes from Vietnam

Rees Lloyd, civil rights attorney, veterans activist and American Legion member recommends the book–and soon to be movie–about Jeremiah Denton and the others who were inmates at one of the most notorious Vietnamese prisons called “Alcatraz”.

Alvin Townely says he wrote the book to honor of the bravest of the brave held by the North Vietnamese and whose stories you have not been heard. 

Hundreds of brave Americans were held captive during the Vietnam War. From those, the North Vietnamese singled out eleven of the worst – the ringleaders, diehard resistors, and escape artists. They exiled them to an isolated prison the POWs named Alcatraz for the loneliness, suffering, and torture they endured there. As these POWs valiantly waged war from their tomb-like cells, the defiance, resilience, and unity of the “Alcatraz Eleven”became legend.

While North Vietnam imprisoned these men for more than seven years, their remarkable wives soldiered on at home; some didn’t learn their husbands’ fate for more than four years. These women also led a struggle with the U.S. and North Vietnamese governments alike to secure the safe return of their loved ones. Their legacy lives on in the National League of POW/MIA Families, which they founded.

Here’s Rees talking about the book and other plans his kindred in the American Legion have in store to honor Admiral Jeremiah Denton’s heroism and memory.

Alvin Townley

DEFIANT by Alvin Townley

Rees Lloyd, Attorney American Legion Dept. of California Patriot Outreach Pilot Project