Im No Hero

'I'm No Hero' is the story of Charlie Plumb, but it is also the story of all POWs who faced an isolated world of degradation, loneliness, tedium, hunger, and pain.

It is no pretty story. It tells of the torture room with walls built to muffle human screams, of the 'rope trick' and 'fanbelt' techniques designed to make a man talk, of illness, of insanity. But it also tells of the ingenuity and creativity which allowed the men to outsmart their guards and to set up communication systems, classes, escape plans, and to maintain their chain of command.

It is a revealing story. It pictures men who are reduced to the basics physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It shows how these situations can be survived with individual integrity and pride intact.

It tells of growing relationships with God which came as a result of desperate need. It outlines a closed society's methods of developing rules which allow members to live together in harmony.

It is a story of hope, for it suggests that the techniques used by POWs to survive their conditions can be used by others to overcome similar situations faced in day-to-day living.