Doug Hegdahl’s Razor-Sharp Memory Helped Hundreds Of American POWs In Vietnam

Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

For Veterans Day, the story of Vietnam-era servicemember Douglas Hegdahl. He tricked his captors into thinking he was "the incredibly stupid one," but by using his incredibly sharp memory, he was able to memorize (and later share) information about hundreds of American POWs, in the hopes of keeping them safer and healthier until they could come home.

Lest We Forget (US Naval Institute via Archive.org)