IN the PRESENCE of MINE ENEMIES: SEVEN YEARS as a POW in NORTH VIETNAM by Howard and Phyllis Rutledge


Originally published in 1973.

Published in 1977 by Commission Press.

Co-written with Mel and Lyla White

In the Presence of Mine Enemies is, in reality, two kinds of books. It is a biography of Captain Howard Rutledge's (1928-1984) time in the prisoner of war camp nicknamed Hanoi Hilton by its prisoners in North Vietnam from 1965-1973. It is also a faith tract.

The book gets right to the point - Rutledge is shot down in the fifth paragraph and captured by the sixth page. The book rarely gets bogged down in technical details and is very approachable by any reader. More on this in a moment.

The descriptions of his captivity, such as the food, how the prisoners managed to communicate with one another, how they mapped out the prison despite no one ever managing to see all of it, the physical torture, the difficulty of solitary confinement, and the joy of finally being able to be with another prisoner are all told in sufficient - but not grotesque - detail.

If you are looking for any discussion of the war and whether or not it was a worthy effort - there is none. 

An addendum to Howard Rutledge's story is the tale of his wife, Phyllis. The Rutledges had four children and it was suddenly her duty to be the only parent for all of them. As she said on page 124, "It's hard to be the head of a household with no real preparation."

I noted in the first paragraph that this book is actually two kinds of books. It is also a religious tract designed to show the reader how Christians can dig deep into their faith to go through difficult times. I wasn't bothered by this aspect of the book - it was actually interesting,  but I didn't read it for this testimony. This is still, primarily, a recounting of the way the Hanoi Hilton worked and the conditions in the prison.

This book has a rather convoluted publishing history and slightly different titles due to its extensive use as a faith tract. My copy has a little reminder of the way books used to be sold in the pre-Amazon days. There are 4 pages of ads for joining book clubs or ordering books from an order form that you cut out of the book. That's the way it used to be done in the pre-internet days, boys and girls.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Seven Years as a POW in North Vietnam.

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