Issue Date: 2/13/06
Latter Day Saints host POW speaker
By Jason Dunn
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David Rollins spent six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. At an event organized by Palomar College's Latter Day Saints Student Association on Feb. 2, Rollins spoke about his experiences as a POW and about the personal lessons he learned.
"It took me three years to learn to forgive my captors," Rollins told the audience at the Institute of Religion, many of whom are Palomar College students.
Rollins told the audience the story of how he came to be captured. After ejecting from an airplane and finding there was no parachute, Rollins fell into the muck and mud of a flooded rice paddy with an impact that permanently displaced many of his internal organs. His plane landed intact. After regaining consciousness, he realized he was in danger of being bombed by the planes he had been leading.
Rollins described his capture, torture techniques he had seen and experienced, and beatings he had received.
"At one time I thought I could outlast that guy kicking me in the head," Rollins said. "Then I realized maybe he has another pair of boots, and I only had one head."
Rollins also spoke about the personal lessons he learned during his time as a POW.
"One of the greatest blessings of my life was getting acquainted with myself" Rollins said. He added that he had a lot of time to spend on self-introspection, and advised audience members to find time to isolate themselves from distractions and do the same.
"Start thinking about yourself - find out who you are," Rollins said. "You won't like yourself."
Rollins talked about how the prisoners could communicate by tapping on their cell walls, and that by communicating they could all recite the pledge of allegiance at the same time each morning.
He told how one man had managed to make a small American flag from scraps of cloth. The flag was taken away during a near-death beating. When the freshly beaten man was returned to his cell he immediately started assembling the materials to make another flag. "It was that important," Rollins said.
"It took me three years to learn to forgive my captors," Rollins told the audience at the Institute of Religion, many of whom are Palomar College students.
Rollins told the audience the story of how he came to be captured. After ejecting from an airplane and finding there was no parachute, Rollins fell into the muck and mud of a flooded rice paddy with an impact that permanently displaced many of his internal organs. His plane landed intact. After regaining consciousness, he realized he was in danger of being bombed by the planes he had been leading.
Rollins described his capture, torture techniques he had seen and experienced, and beatings he had received.
"At one time I thought I could outlast that guy kicking me in the head," Rollins said. "Then I realized maybe he has another pair of boots, and I only had one head."
Rollins also spoke about the personal lessons he learned during his time as a POW.
"One of the greatest blessings of my life was getting acquainted with myself" Rollins said. He added that he had a lot of time to spend on self-introspection, and advised audience members to find time to isolate themselves from distractions and do the same.
"Start thinking about yourself - find out who you are," Rollins said. "You won't like yourself."
Rollins talked about how the prisoners could communicate by tapping on their cell walls, and that by communicating they could all recite the pledge of allegiance at the same time each morning.
He told how one man had managed to make a small American flag from scraps of cloth. The flag was taken away during a near-death beating. When the freshly beaten man was returned to his cell he immediately started assembling the materials to make another flag. "It was that important," Rollins said.