Sam Johnson looks back on Vietnam captivity

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"As he faces the 35th anniversary of his release from a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, says he is humbled by the attention he continues to receive.

The anniversary comes Feb. 12, a day Johnson said he will spend collecting Valentines from school children to be delivered to wounded war veterans. There also will be a dedication of a memorial named for Johnson, a 29-year Air Force veteran, in a Dallas suburb.

Shot down over Vietnam in 1966 on his second tour of duty, Johnson spent seven years as a prisoner of war, including 42 months of solitary confinement. He suffered injuries that included a broken back, dislocated left shoulder and a broken right arm.

Talking of the day in 1973 when he was freed, Johnson said in an interview on Friday that he and other POWs — who had carefully memorized the names of hundreds of other prisoners in case anyone got out — were not sure they were ever coming home."

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