Vietnam veteran reflects on POW experience

Veterans Day carries additional meaning this year for one Fort Collins man.

In addition to honoring those who have served in the U.S. military, Nov. 11 marks the formal release of Robert Wideman’s book describing his experiences as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.

“Unexpected Prisoner: Memoir of a Vietnam POW” details Wideman’s thoughts and emotions from when his Navy A-4 Skyhawk went down during a bombing run over North Vietnam on May 6, 1967, to his release six years later from a Hanoi prison.

Along the way he endured torture, crushing boredom and filthy conditions. But even then, Wideman maintains the treatment American POWs received from North Vietnamese captors was not as severe as what prisoners in other wars experienced.

“It could have been a lot worse,” he said in an interview.

Wideman, 73, wrote the book with the help of author Cara Lopez Lee of Ventura, California. He wrote it to “have something on paper” to pass along to his sons and grandchildren, who live in Fort Collins.

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But it’s also meant to fill in the omissions of previous books about the POW experience in Vietnam, he said.

“It’s mostly about human interactions,” he said. “I didn’t really have that much trouble with the Vietnamese. I had trouble with the other Americans.”

His first attempt at writing a book about his experiences was shot down by the Navy in 1970s, Wideman said. Officials said his attempt at a novel would be damaging to the military and his career if it were published.

At the time, the government wanted to portray the Vietnamese in “the worst terms possible, even if it wasn’t true,” he said.

He took up the project again about six years ago and wrapped it up after moving to Fort Collins in 2012.

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Wideman joined the Navy because he loved aviation. He dreamed of becoming a commercial airline pilot after serving time in the military, but that never happened.

After retiring from the Navy, he received a law degree from the University of Florida and practiced law in Florida and Mississippi.

He then became a flight instructor and still holds a commercial pilot’s license.

While proud of his service, Wideman said he is not a “militarist” and didn’t encourage his sons to join up. He has worked with the Veterans Plaza of Northern Colorado.

The book details Wideman’s thoughts on the nature of war, humankind and leadership: It doesn’t pull any punches, especially when questioning the roles U.S. policymakers played in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“You would think that we would learn from all of this stuff, especially after Vietnam,” he said. “But it’s the same. It never ends.”

Kevin Duggan is a Coloradoan senior reporter covering local government. Follow him on Twitter, @coloradoan_dugg, and on Facebook at Coloradoan Kevin Duggan.

Interested?

“Unexpected Prisoner: Memoir of a Vietnam POW” by Fort Collins resident Robert Wideman and Cara Lopez Lee is available through Amazon.com and local bookstores, including Old Firehouse Books, 232 Walnut St., and Wolverine Farm Bookstore, 144 N. College Ave.