Wretchard,

Not knowing any more than I do about “Bat 21,” the obvious question is:

Given that Hambleton, in particular, knew his potential intelligence value to the North Vietnamese, why didn’t he simply bite down on a cyanide capsule hung around his neck or shoot himself? Doing that, as Hambleton would have known all too well, would have certainly “saved lives.”

Case in point: Captain John Phillip Cromwell (1901-1943), U.S.N., R.I.P.

http://www.valoratsea.com/cromwell.htm