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IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES 1965-1973 A Prisoner of War
Illustrated - Seven years a POW in North Vietnam - The heroic story of a former POW and his wife and the faith that sustained them.
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 19, 2019
As a 14-year Army veteran, a former officer (artillery Captain) and a veteran of the Vietnam War, I clearly understood how every soldier questions himself and his training, questioning if he will do the right thing when entering into combat, questioning that he will serve his comrades valiantly under fire, questioning that he will be brave and endure, thwarting the enemy if he is captured. Many of our soldiers, over many wars in our history, were able to resist, a lesser few were broken under torture and duress.
On November 27, 1965 Captain Howard Rutledge entered upon that test. In the skies over Hanoi, his fighter plane came under heavy anti-aircraft fire, suffering serious damage. Captain Rutledge ejected from his plane only moments before it exploded, causing him serious injury. He parachuted right into the hands of the enemy and thus began his 7-year odyssey as a prisoner of war. He suffered torture, dysentery, starvation, indoctrination, solitary confinement (about 5 years of his capture) and lack of medical attention. This story is about his survival and how he learned to cope. It's about man's inhumanity to his fellow man. It's about the family left behind. It's about the tragedy of war and the loss of innocence. Rutledge endured and returned to tell his story.
On November 27, 1965 Captain Howard Rutledge entered upon that test. In the skies over Hanoi, his fighter plane came under heavy anti-aircraft fire, suffering serious damage. Captain Rutledge ejected from his plane only moments before it exploded, causing him serious injury. He parachuted right into the hands of the enemy and thus began his 7-year odyssey as a prisoner of war. He suffered torture, dysentery, starvation, indoctrination, solitary confinement (about 5 years of his capture) and lack of medical attention. This story is about his survival and how he learned to cope. It's about man's inhumanity to his fellow man. It's about the family left behind. It's about the tragedy of war and the loss of innocence. Rutledge endured and returned to tell his story.
September 24, 2021
I think this is the second time I’ve read this book. I have vague memories of it, that started to come back the farther I read. It’s a hard read. The torture and savage deprivation that they all suffered is hard to hear about, but this book is important. We, I, can never fully understand what so many men have gone through, sacrificed, for our country. This book though gives us a glimpse of that suffering. It makes me grateful. That is why everyone should read it, to remind us about the reality of our freedom and its cost.
Faith is a vital part of his story. He is very emphatic about that. He is also very clear that the faith he presents here is drawn from his memories of growing up in church. So while not really detailed, it is amazing how God used even the scrambled parts he could remember to sustain him.
Torture and deprivation are described in this book, but it is handled as gently as possible. He acknowledges the pervasiveness of foul language in their lives but expunges it from this narrative. Because of that, I would recommend it for teens and older.
Faith is a vital part of his story. He is very emphatic about that. He is also very clear that the faith he presents here is drawn from his memories of growing up in church. So while not really detailed, it is amazing how God used even the scrambled parts he could remember to sustain him.
Torture and deprivation are described in this book, but it is handled as gently as possible. He acknowledges the pervasiveness of foul language in their lives but expunges it from this narrative. Because of that, I would recommend it for teens and older.
February 23, 2015
What a challenge this book was to read! Howard Rutledge was a Captain in the navy as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War. His capture sounds exactly like a scene from Rambo/24. Following capture and torture, he endured 7 years as a POW in North Vietnam. This is the story of how he survived through his faith in Christ. The faith he had as a child in a Southern Baptist church flourished and grew in the prison walls.
One thing that really challenged me is how little he knew Scripture/hymns (shame on our SS programs) and yet how they became his sustenance in prison. Every day he cycled through the portions of Scripture and hymns he had memorized or scavenged from other POWs. After several years he had a disciplined routine of prayers and Scriptural passages he would go through each day in order to keep his sanity in solitary confinement.
It is interesting to hear how the soldiers communicated in prison, how they never gave up hope, and how their families too never gave up. The conditions in which they lived were horrendous - that is the only reason this book may be difficult to read. Other than that it is a great quick read which will make you thankful for your country and your freedom to read and study God's Word daily.
"In prison it became easier to thank God...the less possessions I had the more significant His really worthwhile gifts became"
One thing that really challenged me is how little he knew Scripture/hymns (shame on our SS programs) and yet how they became his sustenance in prison. Every day he cycled through the portions of Scripture and hymns he had memorized or scavenged from other POWs. After several years he had a disciplined routine of prayers and Scriptural passages he would go through each day in order to keep his sanity in solitary confinement.
It is interesting to hear how the soldiers communicated in prison, how they never gave up hope, and how their families too never gave up. The conditions in which they lived were horrendous - that is the only reason this book may be difficult to read. Other than that it is a great quick read which will make you thankful for your country and your freedom to read and study God's Word daily.
"In prison it became easier to thank God...the less possessions I had the more significant His really worthwhile gifts became"
November 9, 2024
Faith in Christ sustained the author during in 7 years in North Vietnamese POW camp. Christ sustained his wife and family as well. This is a quick read, touching high (or low) points of their 7 years apart. I particularly liked how Rutledge and other POWs would recall Scripture verses and hymns, communicating them to one another through their elaborate communication system.
March 6, 2016
I stumbled across this book and read it in the 70's, as a young Christian having recently "found Christ". I have kept coming back to this book at different times, for myself, but also as a powerful illustration of how much we need each other - which contradicts the individualistic thinking of our American culture. It's quite true: you don't know what you have until you no longer have it. We take community and the benefits of true community in loving relationships for granted, and often only realize their life-giving, life-sustaining value when we are deprived of it. The Church is prone often to forget this and take "fellowship" for granted. Apparently Captain Rutledge best realized this, as to the human need for relationships with others and God, when having to live in forced isolation for most of 7 years. They say a wise person can learn from other's mistakes, rather than having to make the same mistake in order to learn. That's how I thankfully see this true life story of Captain Rutledge, and glad he's shared it with the world. It serves a constant reminder to our need for intimate fellowship, which can only be fully realized in the context of relationship with God.
November 21, 2012
I am always inspired by stories of survival over great odds. I can't begin to imagine spending the majority of 7 years in solitary confinement.
There were a couple of statements in this story that stood out to me. There is real power in prayer and thanksgiving.
'In spite of my problems in prison, it became easier to thank God for His gifts. It almost seemed that the less possessions I had, the more significant His really worthwhile gifts became to me.'
'There was a time when I might have thought that men who prayed a lot were milquetoasts or sissy types. Now I know differently. There were times I thought prayer was a silly ritual we did from guilt or pressure, an act of piety we performed in church, or family worship that really didn't have much meaning. Now I know the truth. Prayer really works!'
There were a couple of statements in this story that stood out to me. There is real power in prayer and thanksgiving.
'In spite of my problems in prison, it became easier to thank God for His gifts. It almost seemed that the less possessions I had, the more significant His really worthwhile gifts became to me.'
'There was a time when I might have thought that men who prayed a lot were milquetoasts or sissy types. Now I know differently. There were times I thought prayer was a silly ritual we did from guilt or pressure, an act of piety we performed in church, or family worship that really didn't have much meaning. Now I know the truth. Prayer really works!'
July 28, 2025
Originally published in 1973.
Published in 1977 by Commission Press.
Co-written with Mel and Lyla White.
In the Presence of Mine Enemies is, in reality, two kinds of books. It is a biography of Captain Howard Rutledge's (1928-1984) time in the prisoner of war camp nicknamed Hanoi Hilton by its prisoners in North Vietnam from 1965-1973. It is also a faith tract.
The book gets right to the point - Rutledge is shot down in the fifth paragraph and captured by the sixth page. The book rarely gets bogged down in technical details and is very approachable by any reader. More on this in a moment.
The descriptions of his captivity, such as the food, how the prisoners managed to communicate with one another, how they mapped out the prison despite no one ever managing to see all of it, the physical torture, the difficulty of solitary confinement, and the joy of finally being able to be with another prisoner are all told in sufficient - but not grotesque - detail.
If you are looking for any discussion of the war and whether or not it was a worthy effort - there is none.
An addendum to Howard Rutledge's story is the tale of his wife, Phyllis. The Rutledges had four children and it was suddenly her duty to be the only parent for all of them. As she said on page 124, "It's hard to be the head of a household with no real preparation."
I noted in the first paragraph that this book is actually two kinds of books. It is also a religious tract designed to show the reader how Christians can dig deep into their faith to go through difficult times. I wasn't bothered by this aspect of the book, but I didn't read it for this testimony. This is still, primarily, a recounting of the way the Hanoi Hilton worked and the conditions in the prison.
This book has a rather convoluted publishing history and slightly different titles due to its extensive use as a faith tract. My copy has a little reminder of the way books used to be sold in the pre-Amazon days. There are 4 pages of ads for joining book clubs or ordering books from an order form that you cut out of the book. That's the way it used to be done in the pre-internet days, boys and girls.
I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.
Link to all of my reviews of books that cover the Vietnam War: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/sear...
Published in 1977 by Commission Press.
Co-written with Mel and Lyla White.
In the Presence of Mine Enemies is, in reality, two kinds of books. It is a biography of Captain Howard Rutledge's (1928-1984) time in the prisoner of war camp nicknamed Hanoi Hilton by its prisoners in North Vietnam from 1965-1973. It is also a faith tract.
The book gets right to the point - Rutledge is shot down in the fifth paragraph and captured by the sixth page. The book rarely gets bogged down in technical details and is very approachable by any reader. More on this in a moment.
The descriptions of his captivity, such as the food, how the prisoners managed to communicate with one another, how they mapped out the prison despite no one ever managing to see all of it, the physical torture, the difficulty of solitary confinement, and the joy of finally being able to be with another prisoner are all told in sufficient - but not grotesque - detail.
If you are looking for any discussion of the war and whether or not it was a worthy effort - there is none.
An addendum to Howard Rutledge's story is the tale of his wife, Phyllis. The Rutledges had four children and it was suddenly her duty to be the only parent for all of them. As she said on page 124, "It's hard to be the head of a household with no real preparation."
I noted in the first paragraph that this book is actually two kinds of books. It is also a religious tract designed to show the reader how Christians can dig deep into their faith to go through difficult times. I wasn't bothered by this aspect of the book, but I didn't read it for this testimony. This is still, primarily, a recounting of the way the Hanoi Hilton worked and the conditions in the prison.
This book has a rather convoluted publishing history and slightly different titles due to its extensive use as a faith tract. My copy has a little reminder of the way books used to be sold in the pre-Amazon days. There are 4 pages of ads for joining book clubs or ordering books from an order form that you cut out of the book. That's the way it used to be done in the pre-internet days, boys and girls.
I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.
Link to all of my reviews of books that cover the Vietnam War: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/sear...
May 6, 2019
A simple but moving survival story that’s nothing like a novel. The author explains his weaknesses and lack of dedication to God, and how awful conditions in a series of Vietnamese prisons (built by the French) led him back to his childhood faith after years of neglect.
This wandering sheep was brought back to a life of consistency and discipline through torture, lack of basic necessities, and severe deprivation- I think the word “filthy” was used multiple times in every chapter. Rats. Raw sewage. Seeping wounds. Crawling insects. Severe heat and cold. And gratitude for the other POWs communicating through primitive taps and tin cups.
Prison convinced this man of the value of his family and his community of faith. The book doesn’t say that any guards became believers- just that they were angry when heckling failed to dissuade the men from worshipping together on the Sabbath. The book doesn’t say that everyone got out alive, because they didn’t. The book doesn’t say that returning to America was easy - his son had suffered a swimming accident and was paralyzed- but his family was prayed for and his return celebrated by their local congregation and he was reunited in faith and in person with his wife and children.
Homecoming doesn’t get much better than that.
This wandering sheep was brought back to a life of consistency and discipline through torture, lack of basic necessities, and severe deprivation- I think the word “filthy” was used multiple times in every chapter. Rats. Raw sewage. Seeping wounds. Crawling insects. Severe heat and cold. And gratitude for the other POWs communicating through primitive taps and tin cups.
Prison convinced this man of the value of his family and his community of faith. The book doesn’t say that any guards became believers- just that they were angry when heckling failed to dissuade the men from worshipping together on the Sabbath. The book doesn’t say that everyone got out alive, because they didn’t. The book doesn’t say that returning to America was easy - his son had suffered a swimming accident and was paralyzed- but his family was prayed for and his return celebrated by their local congregation and he was reunited in faith and in person with his wife and children.
Homecoming doesn’t get much better than that.
June 11, 2018
Rutledge was flying over North Vietnam with his F-8 Crusader jet armed with two 2,000 pound bombs, two air-to-air missles, and four 20mm cannons when it exploded. He was forced to parachute out.
This is the story of his years as a prisoner of war from 1965 to 1973.
Conditions were inhumane as were punishments carried out against him. The food was nauseating.
Solitary confinement was crazy-making. Winter was terribly cold. Summer was unbearably hot.
For the majority of the book Rutledge tells of life as a prisoner. The last part of the book is told by his wife, Phyllis, tells about how life was for her and their children, not knowing if he was injured or how severely, and not even knowing if he was dead or alive.
This is the story of his years as a prisoner of war from 1965 to 1973.
Conditions were inhumane as were punishments carried out against him. The food was nauseating.
Solitary confinement was crazy-making. Winter was terribly cold. Summer was unbearably hot.
For the majority of the book Rutledge tells of life as a prisoner. The last part of the book is told by his wife, Phyllis, tells about how life was for her and their children, not knowing if he was injured or how severely, and not even knowing if he was dead or alive.
November 14, 2023
This is a powerful little book recounting the horrors of a Vietnamese prison camp, the life-sustaining power of faith in God, and the camaraderie and loyalty of the US servicemen held there. I read this to my children, and while it is difficult to read the details of Capt. Rutledge's torture and the conditions he faced, it shares valuable lessons about the importance of God's word in steeling the heart and mind to endure hardship.
May 15, 2018
This is a great story about a pilot shot down during the Vietnam war and his ordeal in a POW prison in Hanoi. It's worth reading for historians and students / veterans alike.
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December 21, 2019A graphic novel I discovered as a child in the tiny library collection at the evangelical free church my parents attended.
May 12, 2025
So hard to read of the mistreatment he received, but what a statement to how faith needs to be our foundation.
October 15, 2016
This is a book which describes seven years as a POW in VietNam.
It tells a remarkable story of determination and survival in conditions of filth, deprivation, starvation, illness, torture and solitary confinement as a POW in VietNam.
It tells of Howard's survival by realizing his need for the power of God and the comfort of the Bible and praise and prayer. It also tells a remarkable story of mental discipline overcoming the solitude, pain, hunger and depravity while organizing in every prison a clandestine communication system designed to keep the men strong together.
The book is intense in its descriptions but in my opinion is lacking in showing the process of how he moved from pain, overwhelming heat and cold, starvation, etc. to the internal discipline of spending hours on his knees trying to find moments to send coded messages to the next cell, to memorize thousands of details about prisioners for debriefing if they were ever set free, or even to design and build houses in his mind.
I think that he is a left-brained person who automatically moves into this type of thinking with very little difficulty whereas many people would focus more on the pain, discomfort, torture, emotions of fear and hate... So this book is an excellent description of his captivity and development of real faith-filled prayer. But it is definitely not a "how-to" manual for others who might be in a similar situation, trapped by painful disease or disability, poverty, etc.
Still, it is a book worth reading.
It tells a remarkable story of determination and survival in conditions of filth, deprivation, starvation, illness, torture and solitary confinement as a POW in VietNam.
It tells of Howard's survival by realizing his need for the power of God and the comfort of the Bible and praise and prayer. It also tells a remarkable story of mental discipline overcoming the solitude, pain, hunger and depravity while organizing in every prison a clandestine communication system designed to keep the men strong together.
The book is intense in its descriptions but in my opinion is lacking in showing the process of how he moved from pain, overwhelming heat and cold, starvation, etc. to the internal discipline of spending hours on his knees trying to find moments to send coded messages to the next cell, to memorize thousands of details about prisioners for debriefing if they were ever set free, or even to design and build houses in his mind.
I think that he is a left-brained person who automatically moves into this type of thinking with very little difficulty whereas many people would focus more on the pain, discomfort, torture, emotions of fear and hate... So this book is an excellent description of his captivity and development of real faith-filled prayer. But it is definitely not a "how-to" manual for others who might be in a similar situation, trapped by painful disease or disability, poverty, etc.
Still, it is a book worth reading.
April 29, 2011
The fact that someone can survive torture, solitary confinement (a kind of torture), and starvation for seven years while the world thinks you're dead just boggles my mind. I don't want to play down the authors experiences at all.
But the book was poorly written. Every sentence made reference to the bible, growing up a southern baptist or the evils of Communism... which in itself isn't bad. It just hard to get into a story if you feel you're being preached to... and you ARE being preached to with this read. Plus, all the characters were very one-dimensional.
An interesting read after spending a year in Asia, and visiting Vietnam. I would have read this a bit different a couple of years ago.
But the book was poorly written. Every sentence made reference to the bible, growing up a southern baptist or the evils of Communism... which in itself isn't bad. It just hard to get into a story if you feel you're being preached to... and you ARE being preached to with this read. Plus, all the characters were very one-dimensional.
An interesting read after spending a year in Asia, and visiting Vietnam. I would have read this a bit different a couple of years ago.
August 28, 2012
I enjoy reading books like these. Short and to the point biographies. I don't know if some authors get paid by the word or not but it seems that some try to make biographies as boring as possible. This is not one of those books. This is straight to the point, we start out in chapter one with Howard Rutlege being shot down in Vietnam and it runs from there. It is very factual and pointed so there is not a lot of storyline here but you don't need it to enjoy the book. I was wanting to read a good book about the Vietnam war but this wasn't it. This was a very good book describing how someone made it through the Hanoi Hilton. I personally know someone who was there and it is worse than any book could describe. Good book, quick read and very informative.
July 15, 2012
The author is clearly a solider and he write in a military way that doesn't make the book terribly engaging as he clocks off details methodically. However, the story is incredible and does give glory to God for his help while in POW camps in Vietnam and does give you a clear picture for what those camps looked like.
September 9, 2013
The only complaint I have is that it could have been longer. I felt like the story ended abruptly without much information as to how things went once he was reunited with his family. I haven't checked to see if there is another book so maybe the story I want to read is in another volume. I am thankful for him, his testimony, and his positive outlook. It was an encouraging read.
August 29, 2015
I loved this book! Although it does have some adult content, it was spiritually very encouraging and I loved the historical value of the book—as well as getting a glimpse into what the daily life of a POW is like. (Please note that this book includes some adult content, all in relation to the way the Vietnamese treated their prisoners. It is not a suitable read for children.)
August 13, 2013
Another gripping account of a United States POW, this time in the Vietnam War. This man became of a follower of Jesus throughout his ordeal. The LORD truly allows deep and intense suffering in the lives of some people in order to bring them closer to Him. Wow…
March 7, 2008
A well written story of courage and faith amidst great suffering.
June 29, 2009
excellent book - tells of john mccains breif time there in prison camp
November 7, 2015
Amazing story of the strength and grace of God that He gives to His people as they need it and the spirit of those who serve in the United States military to keep freedom alive.
November 17, 2016
I read this book when it first came out back in the 70s. I enjoyed it then and decided it was worth a second read. Inspiring story.
October 16, 2014
This Vietnam POW story amazes and inspires.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews