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Dieter Dengler (May 22, 1938 – February 7, 2001) was a German-born United States Navy aviator during the Vietnam War and later a private aircraft test pilot and commercial airline pilot. He was one of two survivors, the other being Phisit Intharathat, out of seven prisoners of war (POWs) who escaped from a Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos. He was rescued after 23 days on the run〔(Rescue Dawn: The Truth ) Retrieved January 13, 2008.〕 following six months of torture and imprisonment and was the first captured U.S. airman to escape enemy captivity during the Vietnam war.〔Time magazine October 14, 1966〕 ==Family and early life== Dieter Dengler was born and raised in the small town of Wildberg, in the Black Forest region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. He grew up not knowing his father, who had been drafted into the German army in 1939 and was killed during World War II on the Eastern Front during the winter of 1943/44. Dieter became very close to his mother and brothers. Dengler's maternal grandfather, Hermann Schnuerle, refused to vote for Adolf Hitler in the 1934 elections (which was considered a referendum on Hitler). Subsequently he was paraded around town with a placard around his neck, was spit upon and was then sent to labor in a rock mine for a year. Dengler credited his grandfather's resolve as a major inspiration during his time in Laos. His grandfather's steadfastness despite the great risks was one reason Dengler refused a North Vietnamese demand that he sign a document condemning alleged American aggression in Southeast Asia. Dengler's first experience with aircraft was when he witnessed an Allied fighter plane firing its guns as it flew very close past a window young Dieter was peering out of in his hometown. From that moment on, Dengler said he knew that he wanted to be a pilot. He grew up in extreme poverty but always found ways to help his family survive. Dieter and his brothers would go into bombed-out buildings, tear off wallpaper and bring it to his mother to boil for a meal. Apparently some nutrients remained in the wallpaper paste. When the Moroccans, who occupied this area would slaughter sheep for their meals Dieter would sneak over to their lodgings to take the scraps and leftovers they wouldn’t eat and his mother would make dinner from them. He was also the first in his town to have a bicycle, building it himself, by scavenging from dumps. Dieter was apprenticed to a blacksmith at the age of 14. The blacksmith and the other boys who worked six days a week building giant clocks and clock faces to repair German cathedrals regularly beat him. Later in life Dieter actually thanked his master "for his disciplined training and for helping Dieter become more capable, self-reliant and yes, 'tough enough to survive'". After seeing an ad in an American magazine, expressing a need for pilots, he decided to go to the United States. Although a family friend agreed to sponsor him he lacked money for passage and came up with a plan to independently salvage brass and other metals to sell. When he turned 18 and upon completion of his apprenticeship, Dengler hitchhiked to Hamburg and set sail for New York City with the dream of becoming a pilot. He lived on the streets of Manhattan for just over a week and eventually found his way to an Air Force recruiter. He was assured that piloting aircraft was what the Air Force was all about so he enlisted in June 1957 and went to basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. After basic training Dengler was initially assigned duty as a motor pool mechanic. His qualifications as a machinist led to an assignment as a gunsmith. He passed the test for aviation cadets, but was told that only college grads were selected to be pilots and his enlistment expired before he was selected for pilot training. After his discharge Dengler joined his brother working in a bakery shop near San Francisco and enrolled in San Francisco City College, then transferred to the College of San Mateo, where he studied aeronautics. Upon completion of two years of college he applied for the US Navy aviation cadet program and was accepted. Dieter would do whatever it took to become a pilot. In his inaugural flight at primary flight training, for example, the instructor told Dieter that if he became airsick and vomited in the cockpit that he would receive a "down" on his record. Students were only allowed three downs then they would wash out of flight training. The instructor of course, took the plane through spins and loops causing Dieter to become dizzy and disoriented. Knowing he was about to vomit and not wanting to receive a "down" Dieter took off his boot, threw up into it and put it back on. At the end of the flight the instructor checked the cockpit and could smell the vomit, but couldn’t find any evidence of it. He didn’t get a "down". After his completion of flight training Dengler went to the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas for training as an attack pilot in the Douglas AD Skyraider. He joined VA-145 while the squadron was on shore duty at Naval Air Station Alameda, California. In 1965 the squadron joined the carrier . In December the carrier set sail for the coast of Vietnam. He was stationed initially at Dixie Station, off South Vietnam then moved north to Yankee Station for operations against North Vietnam. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dieter Dengler」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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