World War II Woman

Prisoners in China

Charlie recalls many of his friends from Boston University and their lives since they were in college together, although he wanted to share the story of one classmate, in particular - Dick Fectau.

As Charlie recalls, Dick and another fellow, Jack Downey, were shot down over China and spent twenty years in prison over there, being held in tiny individual cells, with no outside contact. Dick told Charlie that one of his survival techniques was to single out one of his BU classmates each day and just spend time thinking about them and the things they had done together.

As Charlie says, Dick’s is an amazing story. And so, I checked him out on the Internet. I learned that he and Jack Downey received the Director’s Award in 1998 from the then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet. The reason for this award is described in the Congressional Record.

Fresh out of college, they joined the CIA during the Korean War period. After their training they were sent to Asia, where they were involved in dropping supplies to agents on the ground and in snatching agents from the ground to return these agents for debriefing. On one such occasion, in November 1952, their plane was shot down, the pilots killed, and Fectau and Downey were captured. Two years later they were sentenced to life imprisonment, held in solitary confinement, and subjected to harsh interrogation. .

Through the efforts of our government Dick Fectau was released in December of 1971, and Jack Downey was released in March of 1973.

Dick rejoined the agency from which he retired in 1973. He then went on to become the Assistant Director of Athletics at his alma mater, Boston University. He retired from that position in 1989. Jack Downey went on to Harvard Law School, entered the legal profession and became a judge.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites