Operation Thunderhead: The True Story of Vietnam's Final POW Rescue Mission—and the Last Navy SEAL Killed in Country

Not one American prisoner of war was rescued by the U.S. military from North Vietnamese or Vietcong POW camps during the Vietnam War. Not for want of trying, though. Military historian and SEAL specialist Dockery (The Weapons of the Navy SEALs ) writes about the little-known last POW rescue mission, in June 1972, which resulted in the death of U.S. Navy Lt. Melvin Spence Dry, one of the special operations officers who undertook the dangerous mission. But Dockery writes about the mission only in the last four chapters of this mistitled book. The first 26 chapters are devoted mainly to the story of U.S. Air Force Capt. John Dramesi, who was shot down on April 2, 1967, and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. Dramesi escaped twice, once from the infamous Hanoi Hilton, only to be recaptured and tortured. He was a main player in the planning of the ill-fated Operation Thunderhead. Dockery offers up less than promised in this drily written book that nonetheless tells an amazing story of survival. Photos. (Nov. 4)