The whole idea that the rescue was staged or the soldiers were shooting blanks, that's just obvious stuff. Why would you do that in the middle of a war? It's just crazy.
I don't come from a rich family - it's not like we lived in a cardboard box, but we didn't have a ton of money.
I know that I'm already in the history books and that people are going to remember me as the prisoner of war and the fabricated stories, but you know, to me I was just another soldier over there doing my job.
The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans.
