Ernest C. Brace
Ernest C. Brace | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Ernie |
| Born | August 15, 1931 Detroit, Michigan[1] |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  United States Marine Corps |
| Battles / wars | Korean War Vietnam War |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal (with 3 stars) Navy Unit Commendation Distinguished Public Service Medal[2] Prisoner of War Medal National Defense Service Medal Korean Service Medal (with 2 stars) Korean Presidential Unit Citation [3] |
| Other work | Pilot, BirdAir Manager, Evergreen International Aviation Operations Lead, Sikorsky Aircraft |
Ernest C. Brace (born August 15, 1931) was the longest-held civilian prisoner of war (POW) in Vietnam.[4]
Military career
Brace enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1947 at age 15 as a aviation radar and radio technician. He earned his Pilot's Wings and his commission as a Second Lieutenant from the Aviation Cadet School, graduating in August 1951. During his tour in the Korean War (April 1952 - March 1953), he flew more than 100 missions before being shot down and then rescued on 7 November 1952.[1]
Years later, Brace (then a captain) crashed his T-28 Trojan into a cornfield near the mouth of the Choptank River near Cambridge, Maryland during a training flight on 3 January 1961. He fled the scene and turned himself in ten days later once his empty flight-suit was found hidden in vegetation.[3] Brace faced a court martial and was charged with deliberately crashing his aircraft and faking his death so that his wife Patricia could collect insurance money to pay off debts.[5] Brace plead guilty to unauthorized absence and was acquitted of the deliberate destruction of his aircraft.[6] The court martial ended his military career.[7]
Capture
I'm just a prisoner in a cage;
I have no name, I have no age.
The guards don't even know what I've done,
All they know, I'm a captured one.
My feet are in stocks, my neck tied to a pole,
What food I get is shoved through a hole;
At night I lie down, and my hands are tied,
The rope is stretched to a pole outside.
Ernest Brace[8]
Brace then worked as a civilian pilot for a number of companies before flying for BirdAir, an airline contracted by the Thai Border Patrol Police. BirdAir also supported USAID interests in Southeast Asia. On 21 May 1965, he flew Royal Thai Army Sergeant Chaicharn, as well as other passengers and cargo to a dirt airstrip in the Northern Laotian village of Baum Lao in Muong Houn District.[9] Brace's aircraft, a Pilatus PC-6 Porter, received small arms fire upon landing, rendering it incapable of taking off again.[10] Both he and Chaicharn were immediately taken prisoner (either by the Vietnam People's Army or the Pathet Lao) and force-marched into the jungle from Boum Lao to Muong Hoc to Doi Sai, near Dien Bien Phu.[11] Brace was held in a bamboo cage with his limbs and neck bound to prevent escape. During his captivity he was beaten, interrogated, and faced with a mock execution. He escaped 6 June 1965 for a few days before being caught stealing food from a village. Upon his return to the cage his legs were put in stocks and bolted.[12] He escaped on 17 April 1966, and was recaptured in minutes. Next buried up to his chin for seven days, Brace hit his low point and attempted to hang himself on 10 December 1967. He was eventually sent to a POW camp on the outskirts of Hanoi nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton where he met John McCain.[13] Brace re-tells his story in Season 8 of Locked Up Abroad[14] Like Jim Bedinger, he was sequestered from other prisoners because he had been captured in Laos.[15] Before Doug Hegdahl's early release from the Hanoi Hotel, Brace contacted Hegdahl to ensure the outside world knew about the prisoners captured in Laos.[16]
Post-release
He was released on March 28, 1973, spending 7 years ,10 months and 7 days in captivity, making him the longest-held civilian POW in Vietnam. Brace had not been listed as a prisoner during the past 7 years.[17] His wife Patricia assumed her husband was dead and she remarried; a fact Brace found out at the processing station after his release.[18] While receiving out-patient care in Naval Medical Center San Diego, Brace met and married a nurse stationed there. He moved to her hometown of Klamath Falls, Oregon where he has since resided.[19] In light of Brace's heroic service as a POW, President Gerald Ford issued him a full pardon as well as an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps.[20]
Brace worked for a few years in the late 1970s as a manager for Evergreen International Aviation, supporting aviation contracts for the United Nations in South Vietnam, Africa, and Mexico. He would go on to work as an operations lead for Sikorsky Aircraft with other overseas contracts.[16]
See also
- Floyd James Thompson, the longest held POW in United States history, spending nearly nine years in captivity in Vietnam.
- Everett Alvarez Jr. the second longest-held POW in United States history, spending 8.5 years in captivity in Vietnam.
Awards
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Bibliography
- Brace, Ernest C. (1988). A Code to Keep: The true story of America's longest held civilian prisoner of war in Vietnam. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-7090-3560-8.
- Brace, Ernest C. (2012). Monkey Paw Soup: And Tales of Drugs, Thugs, Revolution, & War. Ernest C. Brace. ISBN 978-0615590196.
References
- ^ a b "Aviation Hall of Honor inducts local". Herald and News. 18 OCtober 2010. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "AuCoin moves to aid ex-Oregon Marine". Eugene Oregon Register-Guard. 3 April 1979.
- ^ a b "Missing Pilot Gives Self Up in Baltimore". Free-Lance Star Fredricksburg, Virginia. 13 January 1961.
- ^ Nowicki, Dan; Muller, Bill (2007-03-01). "McCain Profile: Prisoner of war". The Arizona Republic. azcentral.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
- ^ "Quantico to Open Brace Court-Martial". Free-Lance Star. 5 July 1961.
- ^ "Marine Pilot to Present Defense at Court Martial". Petersburg Progress. 7 July 1961. p. 7.
- ^ William C. Creasy (1988-02-28). "Death Before Dishonor and Life After It". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
- ^ Barbara Wyatt, ed. (1977). We Came Home. P.O.W. Publications.
- ^ Conley, Margaret (2008-10-03). "POW Remembers McCain and Tapping Through Walls in Hanoi Prison". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
- ^ "Ernest Brace: Longest Held Civilian POW | National Geographic Channel". Channel.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
- ^ Hendon, Bill; Stewart, Elizabeth. An Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 143. ISBN 978-0312385385.
- ^ Rochester, Stuart I.; Kiley, Frederick T. (1998). Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781591147381. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
- ^ "Captured by the Enemy | National Geographic Channel". Channel.nationalgeographic.com. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
- ^ Alfadl, Noura (2013-04-16). "Former POWs McCain and Brace reunite for documentary premiere - The Hill's In The Know". Thehill.com. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
- ^ "Bio, Bedinger, Henry J". Pownetwork.org. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
- ^ a b Brace, Ernest C. (2012). Monkey Paw Soup: And Tales of Drugs, Thugs, Revolution, & War. Ernest C. Brace. ISBN 978-0615590196.
- ^ "Locked Up Abroad: Where Are They Now? Ernie Brace, Longest-Held Civilian POW of Vietnam War – Nat Geo TV Blogs". Tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com. 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
- ^ Powell, Stewart M. (August 1999). "Honor Bound". Vol. 82, no. 8. Airforcemag.com. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires|magazine=(help) - ^ By LEE JUILLERAT H&N Regional Editor (2013-04-13). "Docudrama on Klamath Falls POW Wednesday on National Geographic". Herald and News. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Brace, Ernest C. (1988-02-23). "A CODE TO KEEP: The True Story of America's Longest-Held Civilian Prisoner of War in Vietnam by Ernest%20C. Brace | Kirkus". Kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved 2013-06-05.