John T. Downey, POW for 20+ years, passes
According to the Hartford Currant, John T. Downey, the longest held American POW has passed at the age of 84. Downey joined the CIA after college in 1951, and he was in an aircraft that was shot down by the Chinese in November 1952;
He was sentenced to life and spent the next 20 years in Chinese prisons. When President Richard Nixon re-established relations with China in 1971, Downey’s sentence was commuted. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger negotiated Downey’s release on March 9, 1973, and Downey was reunited with his sick mother, Mary Downey. Three years after his release, Downey graduated from Harvard Law School at the age of 45.
His son, Jack Downey, recalled his father Monday as a patient and humble man who might have been a little “rabid” about Yale football, but who never dwelled on his years of captivity.
“For a lot of people, especially of a certain generation, he was this enormous, larger than life person,” Jack Downey said. “But he never made it a big thing. There was very little fanfare. He would just tell me a story about it like he was talking about baseball.”
Category: Blue Skies
Rest In Peace now, John Downey. God bless your family. You gave more than my words can express in gratitude.
RIP!
Rest in peace, John Downey. You’ve certainly earned that.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the case of John Downey and Richard Fecteau, these might be of interest. The first link is to an article I wrote about them some time ago. The second is an unclassified video released by the CIA regarding their case.
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=42949
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z0Mh7EiXRJI
Maybe for both, but especially for the latter – I’d recommend having a tissue handy. And be prepared to be awestruck.
In one of those ironies of life: because Downey and Fecteau were not military and were not accompanying the US military in a theater of war at the time of their capture, neither Downey nor Fecteau are technically recognized as POWs. Rather, they’re considered “detained personnel” – AKA captured spies.
Dang, dude. That youtube video was awesome!
May the Marines on guard at the gates of Paradise render an even more awesome salute as you enter, Mr. Downey!
See you in a while …
Rest in Peace Sir!!
Thank you for that link. What a remarkable story. “I just don’t think I am cut out for this kind of work”, unbelievable humility. To endure that kind of ordeal is simply unthinkable.
Amazed and not surprised. RIP, Mr. Downey. A life well lived.
Here is an article on him that ran at the end of September.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2014/09/john_t_downey_cia_agent_captured_by_china_during_the_korean_war_the_story.html
He went on to a long career in law, and was by all accounts still a serving judge when he passed away.
And when the ChiCom guard came to tell him he was going home after 22 years Downey told him thanks, but he really wanted to watch the end of that ping-pong match. That’s guts right there.
Fair winds, and following seas, sir.