Uncovering a Hero’s Story

by Steve Smith (NSA Historian)

from the July 2001 edition

On March 16th, a brave man was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Dieter Dengler was a Vietnam war veteran and former POW. The Navy awarded him the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart and the Air Medal.

Dieter was a friend. Fred Rohrbach (Missoula ’65) and I visited him when his time was short. ALS,(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, withered his body but the man we knew was inside and we connected.

Several years ago I met Dieter on a trip to Laos. It was his first trip back to the land where he was held as a POW. He was charismatic, energetic and joyfully unpredictable. A fun guy to travel with.

In 1966, Dieter's Skyraider, a propeller driven bomber was shot down while bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trial in Laos. At a time when Dieter could have really used a parachute he rode the plane into the ground.

He was captured and put into a prison camp with six others - three were Thais, one was Chinese and two were Americans. All but one of the Americans held prisoner were captured when their Air America C-47 was shot down in 1963. They had been prisoners for two and a half years.

It was a brutal place with little food and frequent torture. The first American Dieter met was Duane Martin, a captured helicopter pilot. The other was Eugene DeBruin, (Missoula ’59) a cargo kicker with Air America. Gene's condition was dire, reflecting years of torture and starvation.

Weeks, then months went by, with Dieter shackled in leg blocks to his fellow prisoners. He soon learned that Gene was the unofficial leader, the man who kept everyone going and made peace when the close confinement caused tempers to flare.

Desperation and ingenuity inspired an escape attempt in the summer of 1966. After a shoot out with guards, the prisoners disappeared into the jungle in a bid for freedom. But fate intervened when one of the POWs was too sick to go on. Gene chose to stay behind to hide and care for his sick comrade.

Dengler and the others promised to send help when they were rescued. But the help never arrived and it was the last time Dengler would ever see Gene DeBruin.

So in 1998, Dengler returned to Laos, looking back in time, and hoping somehow, to find the remains of the man he considered a hero, former smokejumper Gene DeBruin. There was virtually no chance of success, and soon after the trip Dieter discovered he was terminally ill.

Now, plans are in the works for a second video that tells many of the smokejumper stories that we had to leave out of the history documentary. Eugene DeBruin is one of those stories.

If you jumped with Gene or worked with him at Air America please contact NSA Historian, Steve Smith and help fill in the details. You can reach Steve at
206-601-5656

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