Most Vietnam veterans have fascinating stories about their time in the war, whether they’re tinged with trauma, courage, hope and sadness.
But for Marine Corps veteran Frank E. Cius Jr., his story is one of captivity and torture, spending over six years stripped of his freedom as a prisoner of war (POW).
Cius spoke of his time in Vietnam during an event to honor National Vietnam War Veterans Day in Buffalo, New York, on Sunday, according to WIVB.com. Cius, who grew up in Buffalo, enlisted in the Marine Corps in the late 1960s and was assigned to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.
The young soldier knew his life would change when he received orders for Vietnam, but had no idea what was truly in store for him.
“Most of the guys in my squadron who came over with me were from our local area,” Cius told a group of veterans at Buffalo Naval Park.
Like so many other POWs, Cius’s will to survive kept him going, even through the darkest days.
Enemy Attack, Captivity
Cius will always recall June 3, 1967.
That’s the day the helicopter mission he was on did not proceed as planned.
“On the return mission in, we lost three choppers,” Cius said. “Now the mission turns into a rescue.”
Flying over Laos, his unit’s CH46A helicopter was hit by a barrage of bullets from enemy forces.
“We took the heaviest fire I have ever encountered in my entire life,” Cius, serving as a door gunner, recalled.
The chopper spun out of control, hover-rotated in the sky, before crashing down in a place Cius and his crew wanted no part of.
“We crashed into the jungle, I thought,” Cius said. “It was the village of the VC.”
The Viet Cong. A group of guerrilla fighters that aided the North Vietnamese Army and other communist forces in South Vietnam. After the aircraft hit the ground, all hell broke loose.
“They were not expecting a helicopter to land in the middle of their village, and what happened was everyone was shooting, and getting hit, and hurt,” Cius said. “I caught one too.”
Wounded from the firefight and injured by the crash, Cius somehow avoided capture for a day and a half before his luck ran out. VC troops captured him on June 5, 1967, sending him to the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” in North Vietnam.
Cius’s tiny cell and the four walls that enclosed it would be his home for the next 2,100 days before being released on March 5, 1973, during Operation Homecoming.
“It’s nice to share what I’ve been through with other people,” Cius told reporters after his speech.
Medically retiring from the Marine Corps as a staff sergeant in 1978, Cius received both the Prisoner of War and Bronze Star medals for his acts of valor.
Connecting With Other Vietnam Veterans
Cius’s story was one of several shared by Vietnam veterans at Buffalo Naval Park, commemorating National Vietnam Veterans War Day. It was also an opportunity to honor the thousands of soldiers killed in action during the war.
Buffalo Naval Park volunteer Terry McGuire, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said Cius’s experience resonated with many of the veterans present on Sunday.
“What was special about that is how he could relate to the veterans of that era and honor them because we’ve had well over 58,000 that were killed in action,” McGuire said.
Vietnam Veterans Day also serves as a time to consider all the veterans from that era struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the many who died by suicide years after the war.
Courtney Speckman, director of programs and community engagement with Buffalo Naval Park, said it’s important for the nation to honor Vietnam veterans, a declining population.
“An annual observance to remember them ensures that this day is marked even as Vietnam veterans are getting older and we’re losing more and more Vietnam veterans every day, every year,” Speckman said. “It’s important for them to know that we do recognize their sacrifice and their service.”
