For most of her childhood, Robin Harris knew her father was serving his country far from home, but she did not know why. That changed in the seventh grade, when a fellow student told her, “I heard your dad is in the Hanoi Hilton.” Not knowing what he meant, she asked her mother, Louise Harris, who explained that her father could not come home. He was a prisoner of war. On April 4, 1965, Robin’s father, U.S. Air Force Capt. Carlyle “Smitty” Harris, was shot down over North Vietnam, becoming one o

Col. Carlyle Harris was a prisoner of war for 2,871 days during the Vietnam War. He is credited with introducing 'tap code,' a form of communication that he and his fellow brothers in arms used to relay secret messages. This is his story as told by Airman Magazine | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs