The story is told of his act of heroism in the obituary in the New York Times:<\/p>\n
As Christmas 1970 approached, 43 American prisoners of war in a large holding cell at the North Vietnamese camp known as the Hanoi Hilton sought to hold a brief church service. Their guards stopped them, and so the seeds of rebellion were planted.<\/p>\n
A few days later, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III, a downed Navy pilot, orchestrated the resistance, knowing he would be the first to face the consequences: a beating in a torture cell.<\/p>\n
\u201cNed stepped forward and said, \u2018Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person,\u2019 \u201d a fellow prisoner, Leo K. Thorsness, recounted in a memoir. \u201cHe went around the cell pointing to each of us individually,\u201d Mr. Thorsness continued. \u201cWhen the 42nd man said yes, it was unanimous. At that instant, Ned knew he would (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The story is told of his act of heroism in the obituary in the New York Times: As Christmas 1970 approached, 43 American prisoners of war in a large holding cell at the North Vietnamese camp known as the Hanoi…<\/span><\/p>\n