Lt. Col. Barry Bridger’s life changed forever on Jan. 23, 1967 when he and the co-pilot of his F-4 Phantom jet were shot down over North Vietnam by a surface-to-air missile. The UH Air Force ROTC program invited the former prisoner of war to share what heexperienced during his six years of detainment.
"They classified us, the American soldiers, as war criminals once we set foot on their soil," Bridger said as he addressed student cadets Wednesday at M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, Elizabeth Rockwell Pavilion.
Bridger enrolled in the Air Force ROTC program in June of 1962 at the University of North Carolina, where he graduated from the Undergraduate Pilot Training program. He was given his pilot wings in 1964. Bridger then finished combat crew training in the F-4 Phantom II before his service with the Air Force’s 43rd and 46th Tactical Fighter Squadrons.
It was while serving in the Vietnam War that Bridger endured physical and mental torture as a POW. Some of these torture tactics included re-education, forced confessions and trips to torture chambers where soldiers were beaten.
"If you were called to do something and you refused to do the task, you would probably be taken into the torture chamber," Bridger said.
Bridger said his detainment as a POW, however, taught him many life lessons. For one, it taught him that the power of the human spirit cannot be measured by the human mind, he said.
"Clearly, torture teaches the importance of perseverance and faith in oneself and one’s country, faith in your religious beliefs, as well as faith in your peers who are also POWs. It also teaches the importance of training and preparation," UH Air Force ROTC Col. Phil Bossert said.
