Includes bibliographical references and index.

He was born in New Jersey in 1933 & only dreamed of being a military man. Marrying shortly after high school, he joined the army in 1956 & was dispatched to Vietnam in 1963 when America still seemed still innocent. Jim Thompson would have led a perfectly ordinary, undistinguished life had he not been captured four months later, becoming the first American prisoner in Vietnam and, ultimately, the longest-held prisoner of war in American history. Forgotten Soldier is Thompson's epic story, a remarkable reconstruction of one man's life & a searing account that questions who is a real American hero. Examining the lives of Thompson's family on the home front, as well as his brutal treatment & five escape attempts in Vietnam, military journalist Tom Philpott weaves an extraordinary tale, showing how the American government intentionally suppressed Thompson's story. "Jim's story, as movingly portrayed in Tom Philpott's oral history, is in many ways America's own."--Senator John McCain. Thompson was captured March 1964, three months after arriving in Vietnam, and was held until 1973. Philpott, author of the weekly column Military Update, recounts his childhood, marriage, early days in the army, years as a prisoner of war, release and return, and the family and personal problems that awaited him after so long.