G
Guest
Taken from the N.Y. times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/p...&en=cfba1f9562366ff5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"Vice Adm. James B. Stockdale, a highly decorated Navy pilot who inspired fellow prisoners of war in North Vietnam and later ran for vice president as H. Ross Perot's running mate in 1992, died on Tuesday in Coronado, Calif. He was 81.
Admiral Stockdale's death was announced by the Navy, which did not disclose a cause but said he had Alzheimer's disease.
A winner of the Medal of Honor, Admiral Stockdale was shot down over North Vietnam on Sept. 9, 1965. He spent seven and a half years as a prisoner, four of them in solitary confinement. While a prisoner, he organized a culture of defiance among his fellow captives, including another naval aviator, John McCain, who went on to become a senator from Arizona and a presidential candidate.
he later wrote in The World & I magazine that he had chosen his words deliberately to showcase his basic view of himself that "I am a philosopher."
In the article, Admiral Stockdale said he drew his inspiration from the writings of Epictetus, a former Roman slave who was an adherent to the teachings of the Stoics. "Stoics belittle physical harm, but this is not braggadocio," Admiral Stockdale wrote. "They are speaking of it in comparison to the devastating agony of shame they fancied good men generating when they knew in their hearts that they had failed to do their duty vis-à-vis their fellow men or God."
Admiral Stockdale carried that philosophy in his time of captivity, enduring torture and degradation at the hands of his captors. He was forced to wear heavy leg irons for two years. In the fall of 1969, after several rounds of torture, Mr. Stockdale, left alone in a torture room, broke a window and slit his wrist with the shards of glass. His captors found him unconscious in a pool of blood and revived him.
According to the citation that accompanied his Medal of Honor in 1976, Admiral Stockdale, "deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate."
As the highest-ranking naval officer in captivity, Admiral Stockdale organized a set of rules governing the behavior of his fellow captives and a system of communications between prisoners that involved tapping codes on the walls of cells.
"We organized a clandestine society via our wall tap code - a society with our own laws, traditions, customs, even heroes," he later wrote.
In addition to his Medal of Honor, Admiral Stockdale was awarded 26 combat awards, including two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals, two Purple Hearts and four Silver Star Medals. He was also a member of the Carrier Hall of Fame and the National Aviation Hall of Fame and an honorary fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
James B. Stockdale was born on Dec. 23, 1923 in Abingdon, Ill. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1947.
He is survived by his wife, Sybil; four sons, James, Sidney, Stanford and Taylor; and eight grandchildren."
May God Bless Jim Stockdale and his wonderful family. I cherished his amazing wife and will forever hold them dear to my heart.
I recently thought of them but neglected to call. May God and Mr. Stockdale forgive me.
I was absolutely honored to know Admiral Stockdale for a very limited amount of time, and although I now feel physically ill for not taking further advantage of my ability to interact with him, I nonetheless know that during the time we spent together he treated me with an uncanny respect and dignity I defiently did not deserve. I pray that we as citizens of the world, especially American's, will be able to replicate his solitary refusal to give in to the forces that be. Over all we have to ability to succeed, God willing, and through solitary defiance and organization of the persecuted we shall become strong.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/p...&en=cfba1f9562366ff5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
"Vice Adm. James B. Stockdale, a highly decorated Navy pilot who inspired fellow prisoners of war in North Vietnam and later ran for vice president as H. Ross Perot's running mate in 1992, died on Tuesday in Coronado, Calif. He was 81.
Admiral Stockdale's death was announced by the Navy, which did not disclose a cause but said he had Alzheimer's disease.
A winner of the Medal of Honor, Admiral Stockdale was shot down over North Vietnam on Sept. 9, 1965. He spent seven and a half years as a prisoner, four of them in solitary confinement. While a prisoner, he organized a culture of defiance among his fellow captives, including another naval aviator, John McCain, who went on to become a senator from Arizona and a presidential candidate.
he later wrote in The World & I magazine that he had chosen his words deliberately to showcase his basic view of himself that "I am a philosopher."
In the article, Admiral Stockdale said he drew his inspiration from the writings of Epictetus, a former Roman slave who was an adherent to the teachings of the Stoics. "Stoics belittle physical harm, but this is not braggadocio," Admiral Stockdale wrote. "They are speaking of it in comparison to the devastating agony of shame they fancied good men generating when they knew in their hearts that they had failed to do their duty vis-à-vis their fellow men or God."
Admiral Stockdale carried that philosophy in his time of captivity, enduring torture and degradation at the hands of his captors. He was forced to wear heavy leg irons for two years. In the fall of 1969, after several rounds of torture, Mr. Stockdale, left alone in a torture room, broke a window and slit his wrist with the shards of glass. His captors found him unconscious in a pool of blood and revived him.
According to the citation that accompanied his Medal of Honor in 1976, Admiral Stockdale, "deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate."
As the highest-ranking naval officer in captivity, Admiral Stockdale organized a set of rules governing the behavior of his fellow captives and a system of communications between prisoners that involved tapping codes on the walls of cells.
"We organized a clandestine society via our wall tap code - a society with our own laws, traditions, customs, even heroes," he later wrote.
In addition to his Medal of Honor, Admiral Stockdale was awarded 26 combat awards, including two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals, two Purple Hearts and four Silver Star Medals. He was also a member of the Carrier Hall of Fame and the National Aviation Hall of Fame and an honorary fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
James B. Stockdale was born on Dec. 23, 1923 in Abingdon, Ill. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1947.
He is survived by his wife, Sybil; four sons, James, Sidney, Stanford and Taylor; and eight grandchildren."
May God Bless Jim Stockdale and his wonderful family. I cherished his amazing wife and will forever hold them dear to my heart.
I recently thought of them but neglected to call. May God and Mr. Stockdale forgive me.
I was absolutely honored to know Admiral Stockdale for a very limited amount of time, and although I now feel physically ill for not taking further advantage of my ability to interact with him, I nonetheless know that during the time we spent together he treated me with an uncanny respect and dignity I defiently did not deserve. I pray that we as citizens of the world, especially American's, will be able to replicate his solitary refusal to give in to the forces that be. Over all we have to ability to succeed, God willing, and through solitary defiance and organization of the persecuted we shall become strong.
