Jack Van Loan said he wants people to remain positive when facing life's difficulties.
The former Air Force pilot said he knows firsthand the benefits of positive thinking. It's what he credits to his survival after being held captive as a prisoner of war in a North Vietnamese prison camp known as Hanoi Hilton for six years where, he said, he endured both physical and mental torture.
Van Loan talked about his experiences, as well as the lessons he learned during Thursday's Aiken Kiwanis Club meeting, where Van Loan acted as guest speaker.
"You can't evaluate the way things look in the middle of the night because when you get up, things are never as bad as they seem," he said. "I work very hard to have a positive attitude."
His presentation included pictures to demonstrate the types of restraints that held POWs and the types of codes the prisoners used to communicate, describing the experience as the most intense physical pain he had ever been through.
It was as a POW that Van Loan said he learned to enjoy the "small successes in life."
"I haven't had a bad day since March 4, 1973," he said of the day he was freed.
During the speech, Van Loan also offered his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who was also held captive at Hanoi Hilton with Van Loan.
He said he supported McCain because he said the Arizona
senator has a significant amount of courage. He described a situation where
McCain wouldn't back down to his captors even though McCain had suffered broken
limbs and wasn't able to crawl or walk, calling the moment "an act of courage."
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