I grew up in Palestine, West Virginia, which is mostly a farming community; there aren't a lot of jobs.

The whole idea that the rescue was staged or the soldiers were shooting blanks, that's just obvious stuff. Why would you do that in the middle of a war? It's just crazy.

The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans.

I don't come from a rich family - it's not like we lived in a cardboard box, but we didn't have a ton of money.

I could be, you know, the person that shows little kids that giving up isn't something that you should do.

I know that I'm already in the history books and that people are going to remember me as the prisoner of war and the fabricated stories, but you know, to me I was just another soldier over there doing my job.

I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do. I did not shoot - not a round, nothing. I went down praying to my knees - that's the last thing I remember.