Description

This interview with Ensch was conducted at the Naval Air Station in Miramar, San Diego, on March 19 and 26. Lieutenant Commander John C. Ensch was a Navy flight officer who was a member of Fighter Squadron 161 during the Vietnam War. During his fourth combat deployment in May 1972, he was credited with two confirmed "kills" of enemy aircraft. On August 25, 1972, Ensch was shot down over North Vietnam by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) and spent eight months as a prisoner of war (POW) in Hanoi. He returned with the last group of repatriated prisoners on March 29, 1973, and for nine months was assigned to Naval Hospital in San Diego to recuperate from wounds sustained during his shoot-down and captivity. At the time of the interview, Ensch was serving as an Executive Officer at the Navy Fighter Weapons School at NAS Miramar (a.k.a., TOPGUN) in San Diego. In this interview, Ensch describes in detail his shooting down of two Russian Aircraft Corporation MiGs in Vietnam. He also describes being shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Vietnam, and his capture, torture, and imprisonment in Hanoi for eight months. His narrative covers how the enemy amputated his left thumb, which had been injured when his plane was hit, without any anesthetic. He gives a clear description of life as a POW, particularly as to how the treatment of prisoners waxed and waned as the peace talks blew hot and cold. In his opinion, the anti-war movement in the U.S. prolonged the war, particularly activities such as trips to North Vietnam by prominent Americans like Ramsey Clark and Jane Fonda. Names mentioned during the interview include: Ron"Mugs" McKeown, Mike Rabb, Ken Crandall, Daniel P. Holloway, Mike Doyle, Ed Atterberry, John Dramesi, Earl Cobbell, Ken Wells, John P. Flynn, Walter Eugene "Gene" Wilber, and Edison Miller.