Into The Mouth of The Cat: The Story of Lance Sijan, Hero of Vietnam: The riveting account of an Air Force pilot, prisoner of war and Medal of Honor Recipient

Into The Mouth of The Cat: The Story ofLance Sijan, Hero of Vietnamtells the gripping true story of Lance Sijan. He was a United States Air Force captain in theVietnam War.On November 9, 1967, Sijan was ejected from hisF-4 Phantom IIat high speed and a low altitude, causing him to suffer massive injuries to his entire body. During his violent ejection and very rough parachute landing on the karst ridge, Captain Lance Sijan suffered a fractured skull, a mangled right hand, with three of his fingers dislocated, and deep cuts and gashes in his forearms, a compound fracture of the left leg which was a vertical splintering of the tibia known as a green tree fracture.He was without food, very little water, and no survival kit; nevertheless, he evaded enemy forces for 46 days while crawling through jungles eating nothing but various plants and bugs. During this entire period, Lance Sijan was only able to move by sliding on his buttocks and back along the rocky limestone ridge and later along the jungle floor.After managing to move several thousand feet, Sijan crawled to a road along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where he was captured by the North Vietnamese on Christmas Day, 1967.Emaciated and in poor health, Sijan was transported to a holding compound in Vinh, North Vietnam, where he was placed in the care of two other recently captured POWs, Air Force Major Robert R. Craner and Air Force Captain Guy Gruters. Although in terrific pain from his severe wounds and brutal beatings and torture by his captors, Sijan had not disclosed any information other than what the Geneva Convention guidelines and the Military Code of Conduct allowed (name, date of birth, service, rank, and service number).Suffering terribly from exhaustion, malnutrition, and disease, he was soon transported to Hanoi, under the attentive care of both Craner and Gruters. However, in his weakened state, he contracted pneumonia and died in Hỏa Lò Prison (better known as the "Hanoi Hilton") on January 22, 1968. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and a d