Tap Code: The Epic Survival Tale of a Vietnam POW and the Secret Code That Changed Everything
Tap Code: The Epic Survival Tale of a Vietnam POW and the Secret Code That Changed Everything
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2019--
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Zondervan Publishing
Annotation: Tap Code is the untold story of ex-Vietnam POW Colonel Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, who brought hope, strength, and the love of God to fellow American POWs by secretly reviving a long-unused military communication code. It was a lifeline as they endured torture and abuse, bringing unity and ultimately helping them prevail over a brutal enemy.
Genre: [Biographies] [War] [Religion]
 
Reviews: 1
Catalog Number: #202936
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Copyright Date: 2019
Edition Date: 2019 Release Date: 11/05/19
ISBN: 0-310-35911-2
ISBN 13: 978-0-310-35911-1
Dewey: 921
Language: English
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Harris, a retired Air Force pilot, debuts with a forthright account of his eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and the WWII-era code he taught his fellow detainees so they could communicate with each other. Shot down in April 1965, Harris was just the sixth American captured in North Vietnam. He was taken to the infamous prison known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he drew on his Catholic faith and his brief dialogues with fellow POWs to keep up his morale. Meanwhile, his wife, Louise, struggled to raise their three children on her own and battled with the Defense Department to continue receiving her husband-s monthly paycheck. (Her experiences are recounted in first-person chapters interspersed throughout the book.) Two months after his capture, Harris remembered an obscure communication code he-d learned in survival school and taught it to three other Americans. Based on a five-by-five grid of the alphabet in which each letter could be communicated by two sets of taps, the code was shared with new arrivals and became a vital means of lifting prisoners- spirits and sharing resistance strategies. Crediting his knowledge of the code and his ability to endure torture and inhumane living conditions to an unshakable belief in -God and country,- Harris delivers an accessible, faith-infused memoir of survival that will appeal to Christian readers and military history buffs. (Nov.)

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Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
Reading Level: 7.0
Interest Level: 9+

Tap Code shares never-before-told details of underground operations during the Vietnam War while weaving in an inspiring story of true love, honor, and courage as husband and wife endured the hardest circumstances they had ever faced. When Air Force pilot Captain Carlyle "Smitty" Harris was shot down over Vietnam on April 4, 1965, he had no idea what horrors awaited him in the infamous Hoa Lo prison--nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton." Harris was the sixth American POW captured in the air war over North Vietnam, and for the next eight years, Smitty and hundreds of other American POWs--including John McCain and George "Bud" Day--suffered torture, solitary confinement, and abuse. Their dignity was taken, their wills were challenged, and their bodies were bruised and battered. But in the midst of the struggle, Smitty remembered once learning the Tap Code--an old, long-unused World War II method of communication through tapping on a common water pipe. He covertly taught the code to many POWs, and in turn they taught others. Simple and effective, the Tap Code quickly spread throughout the prison and became one of the most covert ways for POWs to communicate without their captors' knowledge. It became a lifeline during their internment--a morale booster, a vehicle of unity, and a way to communicate the chain of command--and was instrumental in helping them prevail over a brutal enemy. Back home, meanwhile, Harris's wife, Louise, raised their three children alone, unsure of her husband's fate. One of the first POW wives of the Vietnam War, she became a role model for many wives, advocating for herself and her children in her husband's absence. Told through both Smitty's and Louise's voices, Tap Code shares a riveting true story of ingenuity under pressure, strength and dignity in the face of the enemy, the love of family, and the hope, faith, and resolve necessary to endure even the darkest circumstances.


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