Stockdale, the highest-ranking naval officer captured during the war, was forced to wear heavy, viselike leg irons for two years. He was tortured and spent four years in solitary confinement.

To avoid being used in a propaganda film, Stockdale smashed his face with a mahogany stool. After the death of Ho Chi Minh, he broke a pane of glass in an interrogation room and slashed his wrists until he passed out.

Stockdale's captors responded by easing off him and the other POWs.