Anyone ever hear of Doug Hegdahl?

2,517 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 6 mo ago by F4GIB71
eric76
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I spent the last couple of hours talking to a carrier pilot who went to Viet Nam two or more times on the USS Ranger (CV-61) when he stopped by the office this afternoon.

He gave a pretty interesting description of formation flying as well as other matters. When the USS Pueblo was taken, they had just left Japan and were headed back to Yankee Station. In the middle of the night, it came out that they were headed north, not south and headed toward North Korea. The weather was really bad so they had to jettison their ordinance going back to land on the carriers.

They were relieved after a few days (maybe by the Ticonderoga who had been at Yankee Station before going to North Korea for a couple of weeks and then heading back to Yankee Station).

One of the more interesting stories he told about was an incident that occurred on another ship while he was there. It involved a sailor named Doug Hegdahl.

The pilot I was talking to said that he met him when Hegdahl was giving a talk at an officer's club and was quite impressed with him.

Doug Hegdahl was a farmkid who ended up in the Navy and sent to Viet Nam. One night, he climbed up to get a better look at some shooting and ended up going in the water. The pilot said he thought that it was from the ship making an unexpected turn but Wikipedia says it was from the blast of a 5 inch gun. In any event, he wasn't supposed to be out there and nobody knew he was missing until the next morning.

Hegdahl was rescued by a North Korean fishing boat who took him to land and turned him over to the Viet Cong. They thought he was some kind of spy but he convinced them that he was too dumb to be a spy and didn't even know how to read and write. He was imprisoned at the infamous Hanoi Hilton where he was given a much better run of the place than the other inmates because he was considered to be so stupid. The North Vietnamese even tried to teach him to read but gave up.

Hegdahl met all the other inmates and created a little song to the tune of Old MacDonald had a Farm containing the names and capture details of the other inmates. The pilot said that you actually had to record his song and slow it down to understand the words. He was released early and had a treasure trove of information about who was at the Hanoi Hilton, how they were captured, and how they were being treated.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia article on Hegdahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Hegdahl

It's a really interesting story.
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eric76
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Eliminatus
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Love this. I am sure I have never heard his name before but I am also sure I've heard a story long ago that was either his or similar or maybe just a corollary.

Either way, thanks for sharing that.
eric76
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Eliminatus said:

Love this. I am sure I have never heard his name before but I am also sure I've heard a story long ago that was either his or similar or maybe just a corollary.

Either way, thanks for sharing that.
Thanks.

It was great hearing about it yesterday. I've talked to the former carrier pilot on a number of occasions and he often has interesting things to say..

I don't know how many tours he did of Viet Nam. He was an A-4 pilot one tour and an A-7 pilot on another tour. After that, he was an LSO on the carrier, but I never knew that until yesterday.

And he's still flying today.
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medog
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Went through Navy SERE school in January 1992 and Hegdahl was on the staff. He played the camp psychologist. After we finished the training, he sat with us for a Q&A session. He still could rattle off all of the POW names from Vietnam.
F4GIB71
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I went through Air Force survival school in Nov 72, before I went to SEA. The story of Seaman Hegdahl was one I remember being presented. Another was Lt. Col Gene Hambleton, Bat 21. He was EB-66 EWO who was shot down at the beginning of the NVA Easter Offensive (actually 52 years ago yesterday). They contrasted this "old guy" who was shot down with everything going against him, yet survived because of "the Will to Survive" which they contrasted with some younger people who had more going for them, yet gave up. The movie with Gene Hackman was entertaining but not very factual. Of course, the real story was still classified at the time.
F4GIB71
Old Army Metal
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medog said:

Went through Navy SERE school in January 1992 and Hegdahl was on the staff. He played the camp psychologist. After we finished the training, he sat with us for a Q&A session. He still could rattle off all of the POW names from Vietnam.


I went to the one in San Diego in 2009, Doug's story is still part of the curriculum there. Or was then.
CharlieBrown17
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Was still part of it in 2020.
rackmonster
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I went through SERE in 1978 in San Diego. Myself and some of my classmates had lunch with Doug. One of the most fascinating guys in POW history. Doug had a great sense of humor (he sure needed it when you think of what he went through.). Probably about 90% of the POWs in Hanoi were USAF, USN, and USMC pilots who were shot down. They were always comparing their ejections, who had the highest and fastest ejection. Doug said he got an award for having the lowest and slowest ejection....30 feet and 15 knots....when he fell offf the USS Canberra in 1967.

Not sure about this....but I heard that the fastest ejection may have been Navy Lt. Jerry Coffee's in 1966. About 700 knots out of his RA-5C Vigilante. His backseater was MIA for years, later declared dead. The theory is that he may not have survived the ejection.
rackmonster
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F4GIB71 said:

I went through Air Force survival school in Nov 72, before I went to SEA. The story of Seaman Hegdahl was one I remember being presented. Another was Lt. Col Gene Hambleton, Bat 21. He was EB-66 EWO who was shot down at the beginning of the NVA Easter Offensive (actually 52 years ago yesterday). They contrasted this "old guy" who was shot down with everything going against him, yet survived because of "the Will to Survive" which they contrasted with some younger people who had more going for them, yet gave up. The movie with Gene Hackman was entertaining but not very factual. Of course, the real story was still classified at the time.
A few years after Vietnam, maybe when I was still at A&M I read a story about how they got this guy out. They knew he was alive and well on the ground, and he was an AVID Golfer. They talked him out of Bad Guy Country by walking a certain distance and then turning left or right, ad they did by code.....famous golf holes. "#18 at Pebble Beach"......"#13 at Augusta"....

I'm pretty sure this Lt. Col. Hambleton is the same guy we're talking about.
F4GIB71
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That is true. This was in the middle of a major NVA invasion (that caught intel's pants down, imagine that). They knew there were areas of enemy concentration they wanted him to avoid but couldn't say in the clear over the radio. They used the golf course directions to move him to an area where rescue was more improved. They ended in sending a Navy SEAL who got him to the river and floated him down.
F4GIB71
rackmonster
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F4GIB71 said:

That is true. This was in the middle of a major NVA invasion (that caught intel's pants down, imagine that). They knew there were areas of enemy concentration they wanted him to avoid but couldn't say in the clear over the radio. They used the golf course directions to move him to an area where rescue was more improved. They ended in sending a Navy SEAL who got him to the river and floated him down.
That's when I figured out that it was important for us future Officers to learn how to play some serious golf...
F4GIB71
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You know why they named it "golf"?

All the other four letter words were already taken.
F4GIB71
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