Doug Hegdahl; The incredibly stupid one
Mary sends us a link to “Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel” and a story written by Vietnam veteran and a POW, Dick “Beak” Stratton, Retired US Navy Captain about a sailor by the name of SN Doug Hegdahl. It seems that one night SN Hegdahl was pulling watch at oh-dark-thirty while his ship, the USS Canberra was shelling North Vietnam and he missed the part of his training about walking around above decks while the crews were firing their big guns. The concussion knocked him overboard and he floated around for 12 hours until some local fishermen pulled him from the briny.
Captain Stratton goes on with the story about how Hegdahl convinced his captors that he wasn’t very bright and they nicknamed him “the incredibly stupid one”. How Hegdahl memorized the names of every US POW held in Vietnam and details about their lives that would convince family members of his veracity. How Hegdahl disabled five North Vietnamese trucks. And how the North Vietnamese concluded that his early release would do them no harm, until they did release him – Stratton had to order Hegdahl to comply with the early release, by the way.
It’s a very long story, but every word is worth the read.
The 256 names he had memorized contained many names that our government did not have. He ended up being sent to Paris by Ross Perot to confront the North Vietnamese Peace Talk Delegation about the fate of the Missing in Action. He entered the Civil Service and is today a Survival School instructor for the U.S. Navy and the James B. Stockdale Survival, Evasion, Resistance, And Escape Center (SERE), naval Air Station, North Island, Coronado, California. And yes, he can still recite those names!
Category: Navy, Real Soldiers
All my respect and admiration for SN Doug Hegdahl. What an incredible story. The value of his accomplishment will always be appreciated, respected and honored. He did the greatest of service to our country and his fellow POWs. Again, what a man!
Agreed, Sparks, what a man!!
This story is shown and broadcast on AFN on a fairly regular basis. It is amazing.
Hell, play it on every channel broadcast in the US. Show kids an example of heroism and integrity, rather than the Hollywierd celebutard bullshit they’re currently inundated with.
The Other Whitey. It should be mandatory viewing in every high school and college freshman class.
There are a lot of AFN commercial’s, sans the history of the duffle bag or military haircut, that would be great on radio or TV when it comes to history.
Kudos indeed to SN Hegdahl. IMO that was indeed a masterful stroke of heroic deception, reminiscent of the actions of PFC Johnnie Johnson in Korea. I would hope he was similarly recognized for his heroism and perseverance while in captivity.
A short version of SN Hegdahl’s story, written by CAPT Stratton years later, can be found here.
I completely understand SN Hegdahl’s reluctance to leave his comrades. Kudos also to CAPT Stratton – for realizing that the chance to send information home in an uncensored channel is worth the risks involved, and ordering SN Hegdahl to take that opportunity.
Well done, my elder brothers-in-arms. Damn well done indeed.
I read about SN Hegdahl several years ago on a Vietnam War Resources website. He truly snookered his NVA captors!
He was above and beyond in his service to his fellow POW’s, their family’s, and his country.
This man is a legend. Every year in the Navy as we prepare newly selected Chiefs for their transition from a “white hat” junior enlisted to a “khaki combo covered” Chief … No doubt this story is told and recited 1000’s of time.
As a Chief looking forward to life of leadership, respect and previlage, we always look back in history to determine those vajues,traits and charateristics that will serve us well as Chiefs and the we hold to be true.
Here are just some that all Chiefs have drawn from this tale:
1. Followership
2. Humility
3. Focus
4. Dedication
5. Loyalty
6. Faith
7. Leadership
8. Honor
9. Courage
10. Commitment
The last three are the US Navy Core Values.
I read about this guy quite a few years ago now but all I knew about was the 256 names. The current story mentions so much more. He was quite the hero.
Hand salute, ready, two!
… For his service as a Prisoner of War, Doug was nominated for a number of medals, including the Navy & Marine Corps Medal, the Bronze Star Medal (with Valor Device), the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal (with Valor Device), but the Navy never approved any of those awards.
http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=166
What is the ribbon directly following the CAR? I can’t find it on any online Navy charts:
http://veterantributes.org/Ribbons/DougHegdahlRibbons.jpg
–ghp
I’d say that it’s the National Defense Service Medal. Looks like it and makes sense he would have it.
Whoops! Sorry, I was looking at the pic above not the link you put in!
A bit of quick searching yields an unfortunate result. Although SN Hegdahl was apparently recommended for the NMCM, BSM w/V, the MSM, and the NAVCOM w/V for his actions while a POW, reportedly NONE of those were approved by DoN. His highest award on discharge was a PH, presumably for injuries inflicted on him by his captors.
http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=166
If the above is correct, given his actions while a POW that fact is IMO an appalling injustice. Perhaps CAPT Stratton’s book will have the same effect that LTG Moore’s did for these fellows.
Even if the approval authority found no reason to approve an award for valor (and it seems to me that there is ample reason to approve one, but whatever) they still should have approved some award for the wealth of information he brought back-that should easily have warranted a BSM or commendation medal.
An aside-he is being referred to as SN for seaman throughout, but it looks to me from the first picture like he was a PO2 at one point. It’s fairly common for POWs to be promoted while held captive-I wonder how this worked with him.
That is a firm. He would have been not required to test for obvious reasons (he was clearly very stupid), he would have been top listed and auto promoted. Nice catch. By release time he would have been PO2.
I want to hear his version of Old McDonald …
I told my son this story today after reading this thread and he asked, “daddy how could SN Doug have done this special operation if he was so stupid … I think he tricked them … He had a plan and stuck to it”.
Ah … Raising a good kid is good feeling!
I was curious about his promotions, too. What I found is that he left the Navy as a PO2 Postal Clerk.
–ghp
What a shame. He deserved every award he was recommended for and more. He deserved far, far more.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I had forgotten about SN Hegdahl….and shouldn’t have!
Hondo – talk about a major injustice by DoN!!?? If there was a politician in this country with a half a hair on his ass, that DoN lack of credulity could be corrected pretty easily, I would think.
LIRight you are absolutely correct and the DoN and Congress could set this aright in short order. It is not too late, to honor this man as he deserved back then. I hope they don’t wait until he has passed for the DoN to get all teary eyed then and make a posthumous award.
There is no slam dunk for former POWs to get DESERVED awards. Have seen the awards due and the ridiculous process for decades now. This is the current fiasco concerning WALT ECKES and his Silver Star and Purple Heart: Hi Mary, Thank you for your offer. I am open to help. Let me give you a bit of background first. Walt has had others work on his awards before but they were kinda hit and miss attempts. I approached the process with all the professionalism I could muster. I started the process in October 2011 and have spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours on the project. Big obstacles were records. Walt has none and the personal records center says his records were checked out by HQMC and never returned. So, there are no medical records to help with the Purple Heart Medals. Regarding his chain of command back then, his CO (whom he never met) is deceased and the XO was not traceable. I did finally find the S2 Officer, a Marine Major, whom I got to sign the actual award submissions. Sgt. Dodson, the Marine Walt escaped with is deceased…. there were no other Americans in his “camp”. The awards (two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star Medal) were submitted via John McCain in May 2012. In April 2013 Ms. Betty Hill from HQMC awards and decorations office contacted me with compliments on the professionalism of the package but, said she felt she could not forward the awards because there were no “EYE WITNESS” statements for the action. I visited with her very amicably for a few minutes explaining the only witness to the act was Dodson and he was deceased and that in POW situations such as this there was no where to turn for witnesses. I told her I did, however, have a report from Bob Destate regarding an interview with a VietCong who had witnessed Eckes as a POW. She agreed to have me submit his report as a notarized eye witness. Bob prepared a notarized report for me to submit as an “eye witness” confirmation.… Read more »
OK. So we get a few retired guys in uniform to sit outside soeone office with the news media till someone ansers the mail.
I am all in.
MCPO
PS: same thing for SN Doug … We all know what the problem is!
Quite stud-like. Amazing memory; I bet he’s a hell of a blackjack player.
Amazing memory and QUICK thinking from the get go … YES.
I took years to do what he did. He was trained, he worked hard, he studied the multiple codes, he practiced, drilled, one purpose driven … All while trick fucting the enemy and he did what he did as the youngest and most junior man in the chain of command.
Minimum … Navy and Marine Corp Medal (life saving).
Shit … BSM for the 5 vehicles alone.
NAV COM with V … No brainer …
The story of Doug Hegdahl, but with a different name, is prominently featured in the 1987 Hollywood movie, “THE HANOI HILTON”.
Similarly, the story of Jane Fonda is also in that movie, but with a different name for the portrayed character.
Unfortunately, during bygone years, I’ve encountered NUMEROUS veterans (?) claiming to have been the prisoner of war after falling overboard on a Navy ship.
Thanks for posting this. I’d never heard of his story. Just memorizing the names alone would be a feat, given the conditions he and the others were under. But to get all of the pertinent details so that his fellow POWs families and the world would know is pretty astounding.
It’s a travesty that Mr. Hegdahl and others are not awarded what they earned.
I knew that name was familiar, but couldn’t remember why.
Yes, he should have some acknowledgement of what he did while he’s still alive. You’d think by now, someone would get their head out of their butt.
I attended the Navy’s SERE course related to Detention by a hostile Group or some other words to that effect, it’s basically the course for if you are captured by Al Qaeda or a similar non-country terrorist group. Mr. Hegdahl was an instructor and he can still cite the names, from memory, in order.
He’s a national treasure.
If he had to memorize all of those falsly claiming POW status in Vietnam, he would fallen over from exhaustion.
I am utterly awestruck that I never once heard of this while I was in the Navy. His story should be in the Bluejacket’s Manual.
[…] of course, he can still memorize the wealth of information he committed to memory some four or five decades ago using the tune of Old McDonald Had A […]