January 1973 witnessed the end of the longest continual armed conflict in the 200 year history of the United States. Sixty days after the signing of the Paris agreement, the longest recorded incarceration of American prisoners of war (POW\u27s) ended for more than 500 men, over 450 of whom had been held in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Several of these men had endured more than 8 years as prisoners of the DRV, while one POW held by the Vietcong was detained over 9 years