SIJAN: The Will of Airmen Published Nov. 7, 2019 By Senior Airman Kelvin Ngo 37th Training Wing Joint Base San Antonio, Texas -- “Sijan: A Quest for Freedom,” a documentary illustrating the life of Medal of Honor recipient Lance P. Sijan, was shown Nov. 7 to Airmen, family and friends from across Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The documentary, “SIJAN: A Quest for Freedom”, is a count by count biography of the young captain told from the lenses of his fellow Airmen and family members. Among those Airmen and family members, his sister, Nancy Sijan, and prisoner of war cellmate, Capt. Guy Gruters, were in attendance at both showings Nov. 7 and 8 at JBSA-Lackland. A question and answer event with Jeanine Sijan, and Gruters proceeded the ending of the film. The documentary portrayed the actions and efforts undertaken by Sijan during his lifetime and eventual captivity as a POW in Vietnam. “SIJAN: A Quest for Freedom” illustrates the Air Force core values to an extreme, as portrayed by Sijan. Gruters was the last person to see Sijan alive and was a fellow POW for over five years. During his visit to JBSA-Lackland he expressed how his wingman, Sijan, lived out the Air Force core values until his last breath. As Gruters described it, integrity was portrayed in Lance’s fierce and loyal determination to the United States and the United States Air Force. This determination was represented by not providing the enemy with a single piece of intel that could jeopardize the lives of fellow POW members. Sijan served until the end by never ceasing his pursuit to evade and resist, even when it meant being tortured and maimed throughout captivity. And lastly, Gruters reflected on the excellence he saw from his cellmate from his 46 days of survival after being shot down from his aircraft, to plotting escape and aiding fellow prisoners until his eventual death. “Sijan showed no signs of weakness, and all signs of unwavering faith and determination,” said Janine Sijan, younger sister of Lance Sijan. “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” Following the film screening Airmen and members of the audience had the opportunity to participate in a question and answer with Jeanine Sijan and Capt. Gruters. Question 1. “Could you talk about the experience of being in Hanoi Hilton?” “Unimaginable, imagine being in a cell where you had no room to stretch out your legs all the way, where you had to stick your nose at the bottom of the bamboo cell door due to the immense collections of water within your cell which caused mold, and an unbearable air of musk due to the heat of the Vietnamese jungle, just to get some fresh air,” said Gruters. “I mean it was just really terrible, but I’ll tell you what, Lance, he was a real trooper. I mean all this guy thought about even after being 70 pounds and very close to death was how we were going to escape, and how secure this place (Hanoi Hilton) was. He always said, “If I can do it, you can do it; Bring your A Game.” Question 2. “Describe the process of healing after such a traumatic event.” “The biggest thing was forgiveness,” said Gruters. “I had to learn to forgive the enemies who had captured and tortured me. I had to forgive the enemies who had killed one of my fellow comrades. All I had was a great hatred for all of them. Six months after being released all I could do was hate. I came under a bad depression and I never would have thought that I would ever forgive or even pray for my torturers; to which I eventually came to doing. After about three months of praying I asked for their forgiveness from god. I didn’t mean it but it was the first step of recovering. I also thought of Lance and how he never had any of this hatred while he was in captivity. “They’re just doing their job he would say”.” Question 3. “Have you ever been back to Hanoi at all?” “You know, with all the kids and grandkids I’ve got now, I don’t have any money to go back,” said Gruters. “I would love to go back though. I’ve read that they polled the Vietnamese population recently on whether they prefer to have a socialist society, or a capitalist society. Based on the percentages, a higher percentage of the Vietnamese population preferred a capitalist society to a socialist society than even Americans who already live in a capitalist society. They’ve experienced what socialism/communism brings, and they don’t want to go back. We American soldiers won their hearts during the war. Every time they would see one of our guys they would always shout ‘Hey joe, chocolate!’ and our guys would take out their rations and just give them everything, I mean everything. We won their hearts; and those young kids during the war now grew up and are the young adults currently living in Vietnam.” If you weren’t able to attend the event, the question and answer can be viewed at &pbjreload=10.