Former P.O.W. speaks to students

Former P.O.W. David Carey speaks to Sisters students.

On August 31, 1967, Dave Carey's fighter plane was shot down over a rice paddy in Viet Nam. The 24-year-old Captain in the United States Air Force spent the next six years in prison.

On October 26, 2001, Carey spoke to the students and staff at Sisters High School, sharing his fascinating story and offering practical advice on surviving tough times.

"It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting in a high school auditorium listening to an old guy like me," Carey told the students. "But I hope you listen today. After the events of September 11, the future of our country has suddenly changed. How are you going to face the tragedy that will come into your life some day? Because, believe me, it will come..."

Carey held his audience spellbound as he related his experience in a series of Vietnamese prisons.

"The jails over there were kind of like the dungeons you see in the movies," Carey explained. "We'd sleep on pallets or the concrete floor. By the time I was freed, I'd gone from 200 to 125 pounds."

Carey described how his captors tried to break the Americans' spirits.

"They wanted to divide and conquer us," he said. "It was their goal to keep us totally separated from other Americans. Sometimes we were beaten. On a few occasions we were even tortured. I want to tell you today how I made it through this tough time."

Carey related that from the start, he and his fellow prisoners chose to learn and grow while they were in prison.

"We devised ways to communicate with each other," he said. "We came up with simple codes and eventually developed a matrix which could be tapped through the walls. As prisoners, we had lots of time to communicate. On Friday nights, we'd hold an entertainment night. Each week, one of us would tell in great detail the plot of one of our favorite movies... I won an Oscar one night for my portrayal of 'Dr. Zhivago.' I also developed calluses on my knuckles."

While Carey taught the others in his cell to speak French, another prisoner taught the men to play piano on a crude keyboard made out of toilet paper, rice, and ashes.

"I would be in one corner of my cell, playing my heart out on the 'keyboard,'" Carey recalled. "The nice thing was that my roommates didn't have to listen to me!"

Carey also emphasized the importance of keeping a sense of humor.

"Using the matrix we developed," he said, "we would tell jokes to each other though the walls. If one of us was pulled out by the guards to sweep the sidewalks, we could communicate jokes with the sweep of the broom."

Often the Vietnamese guards would eavesdrop on the prisoners, who would be beaten if caught speaking of forbidden topics.

"Sick of the beatings, we decided to stop speaking English," said Carey. "At first we tried communicating only in pig-latin. After about a day and a half, we were all going crazy. So the men asked me to teach them all French, since I'd had four years of it in school. I had to make up a lot of words I didn't know, but by the time we were released, we were all fluent in French --my version, anyway!"

Last of all, Carey spoke of keeping the faith.

"We had faith in each other, ourselves, our country, and God," he told his audience. "Once, after I'd been tortured, I feared I was losing my mind. I couldn't remember anything or focus my thoughts. As I sat in my cell, the first line of the 23rd Psalm kept going through my mind: 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...' I just clung to that verse until I was able to dredge up the rest of the psalm. Thinking about those words got me through a very difficult situation.

"My experience in prison taught me that everything is a matter of choice," concluded Carey. "We all have the ability to make good choices. Dickens wrote in 'A Tale of Two Cities' that 'These were the best of times, these were the worst of times...' So it is today. It is up to us to decide."

Staff and students responded to Carey's inspirational message with a standing ovation. Vice Principal Bob Macauley presented the speaker with an Outlaws cap.

Local resident Jack Addison, also a Viet Nam vet, contacted Carey and invited him to speak at the high school after reading Carey's book, "The Ways We Choose." Addison gave special thanks to Peter Storton and Jim Mitchell who helped provide funds for Carey's transportation.

Dave Carey currently lives in San Diego and is a popular motivational speaker, coach, consultant, and author.

His military honors include the Legion of Merit, five Bronze Stars, two Meritorious Service Medals, and the Purple Heart--just to name a few.

For more information on Dave Carey, visit his website at: www.davecarey.com.