LANCASTER - As a prisoner of war, Tom Moe refused early release from the "Hanoi Hilton" and stuck by his compatriots.
A few men left. Now, Moe wouldn't give them the time of day. But for those who endured torture and beatings year after year and who refused to abandon their fellow Americans, Moe shares a special bond.
It's a bond he shares with John McCain.
A few months into his five years as a POW, Moe met McCain, Navy aviator. Although he doesn't remember the specifics, he said it was probably just a quick exchange of names while the guards were moving them through the prison camp. Soon enough, McCain made an impression on Moe, who lived across the hall. The two "communicated" by flashing their hands along the bottom of their doorways, working out signals.
Moe used a tiny wire to poke a pinhole into his cell door so he could watch guards and prisoners in the hallway. When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up.
"I look back and that vision of him looking over at me and going 'we're going to pull through this' under terrible, terrible conditions is a great memory for me," Moe said.
Watch Video from the Interview with Tom Moe
Conditions were horrific.
Moe was forced to huddle on a stool in the same position 24 hours a day for 10 straight days. Guards stuffed a rag into his mouth, draped another rag over his mouth and slowly poured water onto his face until he thrashed in panic and passed out. They shackled him so tightly his arms turned black. They beat him so badly his kidneys shut down, ribs cracked and eyes swelled shut. Six feet tall, his weight dipped below 100 pounds.
Moe spent nine months without seeing, hearing or talking to another American. He lived in a 6-foot by about 4-foot concrete cell. In his head, he made lists, designed homes, derived mathematical formulas, reviewed the German he had learned in college. Anything to pass the time.
Moe and McCain were released together, along with dozens of other POWs in March 1973. Moe walked off a plane at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base into the arms of his wife, Chris, and his daughter, Connie, who had grown during his captivity from a baby to a 6-year-old girl.
Moe, 64, is now coordinating Ohio veterans for McCain and plans to offer his home on 37 acres in Fairfield County for a McCain campaign fund-raiser.
"I'm going to suggest it. We got the space. He's probably booked up to the convention but I'll put a bug in his ear ˜ come to Fairfield County and get some support," Moe said.
McCain can probably appreciate the home. It's a composite of the ones Moe designed in his head during their stay at the Hanoi Hilton.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/oh/story/news/local/200...
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