This episode is the first of a 2-part interview with Air Force Retired Colonel Carlyle “Smitty” Harris, a Vietnam War Veteran fighter pilot who was shot down on combat mission in his F-105 over North Vietnam on April 4, 1965. Col Harris was forced to bail out, captured by the North Vietnamese and became the 6th American POW where he spent the next 8 years in captivity with hundreds of other American POWs including John McCain and George “Bud” Day.

Col Harris suffered through torture, solitary confinement, and relentless abuse – but endured through it all with reliance on the Code of Military Conduct and a communication system, called the Tap Code, an old and unused WW2 communication method that he covertly taught his fellow POWs, and they in-turn taught others, which remained a vital link of communication through their captivity, without which they may have not prevailed.

In this first part, we explore Col Harris' background, buildup to Vietnam, a vivid account of the day he was shot down over North Vietnam, his beginning experience in captivity, and how he resurrected the Tap Code to communicate with fellow POWs.