Explore the real-world places that appear in Five Years to Freedom by James N. Rowe. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Special Forces Camp at Tan Phu, Capture Site near Tan Phu, U Minh Forest Prison Camps, U Minh Ha National Park, Rach Gia Region Canals and 7 more.
Tan Phu, Ca Mau Peninsula — Rowe's assigned A-Team post
Lieutenant Nick Rowe serves with the U.S. Army Special Forces team advising Vietnamese civilian irregular defense forces in the Mekong Delta. Before his capture on October 29, 1963, he works alongside Captain Humberto 'Rocky' Versace and Sergeant Daniel Pitzer on training and civic action. The camp represents the hopeful advisory mission that the Viet Cong would soon overrun.
U.S. Special Forces teams established Civilian Irregular Defense Group camps across South Vietnam in the early 1960s. The remote Ca Mau Peninsula was a Viet Cong stronghold and a difficult place to operate.
The original camp no longer exists as a military installation, and the area is farmland and small settlements. There is no public memorial at the exact site.
Delta marshland — Where Rowe, Versace, and Ron Pitzer's team were taken
On October 29, 1963, Rowe, Captain Rocky Versace, and Sergeant Dan Pitzer are ambushed by a Viet Cong force during an operation in the delta. Overwhelmed, they are taken prisoner and marched into the swamps. Their capture begins five years of imprisonment.
The Viet Cong controlled large parts of the Mekong Delta in 1963, using canals and marshes for concealment. American advisers were few and vulnerable in these areas.
The area remains low-lying agricultural land crisscrossed by canals. There is no marked site for the capture.
U Minh Forest — Rowe's primary captivity setting
Rowe is held in bamboo cages and huts in remote jungle camps in the U Minh Forest. He suffers beri-beri, dysentery, and fungal infections while enduring political indoctrination and interrogation. He watches fellow prisoners such as Versace and Pitzer suffer and die, and struggles to maintain his identity as a soldier.
The U Minh mangrove and melaleuca forest was a long-standing base for resistance fighters, from the French colonial era through the Vietnam War. Its swamps and dense cover made it nearly impossible for conventional forces to penetrate.
Part of the forest is preserved as U Minh Thuong and U Minh Ha National Parks, with wetland ecosystems and visitor trails.
Visit: U Minh Thuong National Park (park)
Ca Mau Province — Mangrove and melaleuca wetlands
The terrain of the U Minh Ha region matches the flooded forest and swamp where Rowe was shuttled between camps. Seasonal flooding, mosquitoes, and dense vegetation shaped his daily struggle to survive. Moving camps often meant wading through muddy water under guard.
The U Minh Ha area was a revolutionary base during both the French and American wars. It was designated a national park to protect its peat swamp forest.
Visitors can take boat tours through canals and watch for birds and wildlife. The park also features displays on the area's wartime history.
Visit: U Minh Ha National Park (park)
Kien Giang Province — Routes of prisoner movement
Rowe and his guards travel by sampan and on foot along canals and through the flooded delta as the Viet Cong shift their prisoners to avoid detection. The long marches test the prisoners' weakened bodies. These movements show how the guerrillas used the waterways to hide their captives.
Rach Gia is a port city on the Gulf of Thailand, long a hub of delta commerce. Its canal network linked inland rural areas to coastal trade.
Rach Gia is a busy provincial city with markets, a waterfront, and local museums.
U Minh Forest — Site of the American POWs' deaths
Captain Rocky Versace resists his captors fiercely, repeatedly attempting escape and refusing to cooperate with indoctrination. He and Sergeant Pitzer are separated from Rowe and later executed in 1965. Rowe hears of their fates and carries the loss throughout the rest of his captivity.
Versace was executed by the Viet Cong on September 26, 1965. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2002 for his courage as a prisoner of war.
The exact location is unknown and unmarked. Versace is honored at memorials in the United States.
Delta marshland — December 31, 1968
On December 31, 1968, after five years in captivity, Rowe seizes a chance when a U.S. helicopter flies overhead while his guards are working near him. He kills his guard and runs into an open field, waving frantically. An American helicopter spots him and lands to pull him out, ending his imprisonment.
Rowe's escape was one of the few successful POW escapes of the Vietnam War. His rescue came after nearly five years in captivity.
The site is open rural land with no marker.
Can Tho — Recovery and debriefing point in the delta
After his rescue, Rowe is taken to a base where he is examined and debriefed. He is emaciated and weak, but his survival knowledge becomes valuable to the Army. The intelligence he provides helps shape later survival training.
Can Tho was the largest city in the Mekong Delta and hosted major U.S. and South Vietnamese military installations during the war.
Can Tho is a major city with floating markets and a busy river port.
Visit: Cai Rang Floating Market (landmark)
Ho Chi Minh City — Rowe's return to the wider war
After recovery, Rowe passes through Saigon on his way home, finding a country that seems changed from the one he left. He struggles with how American attitudes toward the war have shifted during his captivity.
Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam and the main hub for American operations. It was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after 1975.
Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam's largest city and houses the War Remnants Museum.
Visit: War Remnants Museum (museum)
Fayetteville, North Carolina — Rowe's Army home
After his return, Rowe resumes his Army career and helps develop the military's SERE program to train soldiers to resist interrogation and survive captivity. His experiences in the delta shape a generation of training. He later returns to the Special Forces community that formed him.
Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty/Bragg, is the home of U.S. Army Special Forces. The Special Warfare Center and School trains Green Berets.
The installation hosts the Airborne and Special Operations Museum nearby in Fayetteville.
Visit: Airborne & Special Operations Museum (museum)
West Point, New York — Rowe's formative alma mater
Rowe is a West Point-trained officer, and the Academy's values of duty and honor shape how he endures captivity. He draws on his training and character to resist indoctrination. His later service ties back to the institution.
The U.S. Military Academy was founded in 1802 and is the oldest continuously occupied Army post in the country.
West Point is open to visitors, with a visitor center and the West Point Museum.
Visit: West Point Museum (museum)
Alexandria, Virginia — Memorial to Captain Versace
Rowe's account preserves the story of Rocky Versace's defiance, which helped lead to later recognition of his heroism. The memory of Versace and Pitzer is central to Rowe's reflections on survival and loss.
Versace received the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2002. Memorials across the U.S. honor his service and sacrifice.
Memorials and a plaza honoring Versace stand in the United States, including at Fort Bragg.
More by James N. Rowe: All James N. Rowe books
Other nearby maps: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen locations map