36 | SUNRAYS AUGUST 2014
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
I
t was, perhaps, the loneliest moment
of his life, that August day in 1967. He
had just ejected from his plane, shot
down over North Vietnam. He stood in
a rice paddy and watched in anguish as
a fellow pilot turned back for a moment,
then flew off toward the aircraft carrier
that had launched them, leaving a few
final words on his radio: “You know we
can’t come and get you. I’ll see you when
this is over.”
Minutes later, hostile peasants sur-
rounded him and took him captive. It
would be five and a half years before
Dave Carey would again know the sights
and sounds of freedom.
The story of how he survived those years,
how he and the other Prisoners of War
(POWs) learned to nourish their spirits
and support each other in spite of torture
and deprivations, is one that continues
to rivet the attention of his audiences
throughout the country, even 40 years
after the fact.
A Framework for Survival
Dave Carey, an 11-year resident of Sun
City Texas, is a retired Naval officer,
graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy,
and holder of numerous military honors.
When he talks about his experience as a
POW, he does it with the intent of relat-
ing it to the crises that each person faces
in his own life and how they choose to
deal with them. “Everyone, at least once,
has had something very challenging,
troubling, disturbing, and demanding
happen in his or her life,” he says in his
book
The Ways We Choose
, now in its
fourth printing. He sees his story as a
framework that can help people survive
their own crises.
His message is simple:
• Do what you have to do;
• Do your best;
• Keep your sense of humor;
• Choose to grow;
• Keep the faith.
“Doing Your Best”
Torture taught him the first lessons. Not
long after his arrival at what the POWs
called the “Hanoi Hilton” prison, inter-
rogations and torture began. A strap
was tied above his elbows behind his
back, and interrogators jumped on him
until his elbows touched. They sat him
cross-legged on the floor, elbows drawn
away from his body, and torso bent to
the ankles in front of him. “The pain
was indescribable,” he says. His deter-
mination to live up to the military Code
of Conduct, which specified answering
questions with only his name, rank and
serial number, gave way after a day and
half to begging to be killed, and then
making up lies to the questions asked.
His arms didn’t work for weeks afterward,
Dave Carey was a Prisoner of War in Vietnam for five and a half years, a time that he documents in his book
The Ways We
Choose
. Through his writing and motivational speaking, he empowers others to survive their own crises, no matter the scope,
through their choices. Dave and his wife, Sandy, (shown above) have lived in Sun City Texas for more than 11 years.
Making Choices,
One Day at a Time
By Sandy Nielsen
PHOTOS BY HOLLY MOORE
