Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam

by James S. Hirsch

Book Overview

How two Vietnam POWs, one white and one black, formed an unexpected friendship that saved them both: "A moving story."--John McCain

Fred Cherry was one of the few black pilots taken prisoner by the Vietnamese, tortured and intimidated by captors who tried and failed to get him to sign antiwar statements.

Porter Halyburton was a white southern navy flier who the Vietnamese threw into a cell with Cherry at the famous...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618562109
• ISBN13: 9780618562107
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

It's worth a read

This is a poignant story about two pilots downed during the Vietnam war and ending up in the same POW camps. I read it because it was tauted as a book of over coming racism and prejudice. The idea of American racism was supposedly being used as a tool to demean the white pilot into submission by the Vietcong. Human nature never ceases to amaze me but it is hard to comprehend that two Americans in the dire straits of a POW camp would let something like the color of their skin hinder companionship, communication et. al., things in low supply at a POW camp apparently. The story is heartwarming and informative of a POW's plight. The actual racism issue is of no significance to me when it is put in perspective of what else was going on in the camps.

Absolutely Awesome

I read this book expecting a lot of "war" data. But what I received was far beyond what I expected. It was fantastic. It did just what it set out to do, which was capture the comradry and the "Two Souls Indivisible" and their plights together. I have the pleasure of knowing Fred Cherry and he is a wonderful man. After reading the book, I have another level of respect for him and what he has accomplished.

Compelling and inspirational reading!

Extremely well written. The trials of these two real heros were transferred to the reader vividly on every page. A white fighter pilot was put in the same cell to care for the severely injured black pilot with the thought that this would further demoralize them. Or so their enemy thought. This was a story of heartbreak, courage beyond bravery, and triumph of the human spirit. It was especially meaningful to me since Fred Cherry's son was a good friend of my son while at Yokota Air Base, Japan right before he was shot down. My family prayed many prayers for Major Cherry.I was happy to know that his bravery was so legendary that his pictures hangs in the Pentagon. A truly remarkable human being!

Compelling and a must read

This book is absolutely compelling. It gives the reader a true sense of the heroism in every day life the POW's exhibited. I have had the honor and privilege of meeting Porter Halyburton and he is truly one of the most incredible men I have ever met. The story of Porter Halyburton and Fred Cherry evidences man's capacity for compassion and honor even in the face of man's inhumanity to man.

Absolutely amazing

This book teaches how the most beautiful things can happen in the most unlikely of places - that in a POW camp in North Vietnam where prisoners are physically and mentally tortured, two men can overcome their social upbringings to form a friendship that ultimately saves their lives.James Hirsch does a great job in taking us back in time to the events that transpired between Fred Cherry and Porter Halyburton. He paints such a vivid description of these men and their surroundings in the POW camp, that in reading this story, you feel what they felt: the pains of torture, the sweat on your forehead on a 100 degree Vietnamese day, and the sweet (and bittersweet) feelings of homecoming after seven years of absence from the life you once knew.