Tale celebrates pilot's determination

This tale is about Dieter Dengler, who was born in Germany.

During World War II, his father was killed while fighting on the eastern front. From then on, the family lived in poverty. 

As a young child, he saw American planes flying over Germany and from that he wanted to be a pilot. He became a blacksmith apprentice at age 14. Eventually he retrieved brass from World War II and sold it for money and got a friend of the family who was in America to sponsor him, and he went to the U.S.

He enlisted in the Army to become a pilot but was told they only took college graduates. He then saved money, got out of the Army after his enlistment was up and went to work in a bakery to save more money.

He then attended San Francisco City College and, after two years of college, Dengler was accepted to the U.S. Navy's Aviation Cadet training program. After finishing flight training he became an attack pilot in a Douglas AD Skyraider. He had also received training in the Survival, Resistance and Escape program. 

In 1965 he went to Vietnam. 

On Feb. 1, 1966, he left the aircraft carrier with a mission to attack a North Vietnamese truck convoy. The right wing of his plane was blown off by anti-aircraft fire. He bailed out, and landed in Laos, where he was captured. He was hung upside down by his ankles with a nest of ants biting his face. Then he was suspended overnight in a well, positioned so that if he fell asleep, he would drown.

He was then handed over to the North Vietnamese and was in a prison camp with other Americans. They had heard that the prisoners were to be taken into the woods and shot, so they planned an escape. The guards were lax and their escape was successful. There were six of them, three Americans and three Laotians. They became separated, Dengler and one American by the name of Martin, who was later shot and killed, leaving just Dengler. 

A C-130 would fly over every night, and Denler lit a fire for attention, but it was not noticed. Finally, after 23 days in the jungle, subsisting on a small amount of little rice, he managed to catch the attention of low flying Air Force pilot. He was then after rescued by a helicopter crew.

He was transported to the U.S. for medical treatment and, at that time, he was 5-foot, 9-inches tall and his weight had fallen to just 98 pounds.

He remained in the Navy for a year after his rescue. Then after his discharge became a test pilot for Trans World Airlines. In 1977, he returned to Laos and was welcomed. The locals took him to the camp where he had been imprisoned. He retired as a commercial pilot in 1985.

Roger Gregory served as captain in the 1st Infantry Division and served in Vietnam. He is a Priest River businessman.