PANO – 35 former prisoners of war (POWs) in Hanoi recalled their hard but magnanimous time when they were imprisoned in Phu Quoc Prison, nicknamed “Hell on earth”, during the resistance war against American invaders at a meeting organized by the liaison board of POWs on November 16th.

During the war, about 40,000 prisoners were imprisoned in this prison facility, located in An Thoi town, Kien Giang province. It was notorious with barbarous tortures of warders, such as hammering nails into prisoners’ palms, feet and heads, burning and burying them alive. According to some figures, from June, 1967 to March, 1973, over 4,000 prisoners were tortured to death, and dozens of other became invalid.

In spite of being barbarously tortured by warders, the POWs united and fought against the enemy. Nguyen Van Chien, Head of the liaison board of POWs in Hanoi, said that the meeting was not only an opportunity to recall their memories but also to encourage them to live happily and healthily for the national construction and defence cause.

Since its establishment, the board  in Hanoi has organized many activities to help wounded and ill soldiers, who were imprisoned in Phu Quoc Prison. The unit raised funds to present gifts to seriously wounded soldiers at the Thuan Thanh and Duy Tien Convalescent Centres, Agent Orange victims, as well as worked with the martyr search team K92 of the Kien Giang provincial Military Command to locate 1,076 sets of remains on Phu Quoc Island.

Translated by Tran Hoai