All language subtitles for Z0Mh7EiXRJI_1_en

The Central Intelligence Agency is an institution

course. This is the story of two extraordinary
men. John Downey and Richard Fecteau joined

the Agency in 1951 looking for adventure.
Shot down on a clandestine flight into Communist
0:00:23.070,0:00:69.700
territory, they survived two decades
of hardship in Chinese prisons. They refused to become

victims. They never lost hope, and they knew
the Agency would never abandon them.

It's a story that lay in the recesses of institutional
memory until it came to the attention of the

Director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet.
[Tenet begins speaking] I thought, what better way to give great

incentive by the evidence of what they sacrificed,
the heroism that they displayed, what better

way to teach younger officers? [Tenet finishes speaking]
In 1998, Tenet brought the men back to Langley

to receive the Director's Medal. . . not in recognition
for a mission that succeeded, but rather to

honor the way they coped with a mission that

[Tenet speaking] "We are forever proud that you are our colleagues.
You have been an inspiration to intelligence

officers who served with you and to the generations
that have followed you. Your story simply

put, is the most remarkable in the 50 years of
the Central Intelligence Agency" [Tenet finishes speaking]

Nicholas Dujmovic, one of the Agency's staff

exhaustive review of the classified record.
[Dujmovic speaking] I delved into the archives, uh the actual

operational records, the memoranda, and
was able to
piece together what really happened. [Dujmovic finishes speaking]

In those files he discovered both men recorded
detailed debriefings shortly after they returned. [sound from recorded interview]

The
story of Fecteau and Downey opens in 1951

the 38th parallel pushing north. The first
engagement of the Cold War had turned red hot.

That summer hundreds of graduating college
seniors across America saw the CIA as their

way into the fight.
[Downey speaking] Korean War broke out in June of '50 and you

might say my generation, my little narrow,
post-war generation uh.. that was our war

and it was uh. . . something that we had to
deal with. [Downey finishes speaking]

[Fecteau speaking] We're all gung-ho we thought this was it. We're were gonna get
something done, it's something important.
[Fecteau finishes speaking]

Both were recruited into an agency born out
of the OSS. An agency that turned from fighting

fascism to rolling back the Communist tide.
[Dujmovic speaking] The paramilitary function was huge, uh.. and

growing, we sent our men to Fort Benning to
learn how to jump out of aircraft, uh. . . we

sent them to the range to learn uh. . . about
weapons, uh. . . we sent them to specialized

uhm. . .training courses to learn about the
Communist threat. [Dujmovic finishes speaking]

In October, 1949 Chinese Communist forces
led by Mao Zedong seized power from the Chinese

Nationalists and established the People's Republic
of China. Washington refused to recognize its

legitimacy.Instead the CIA embarked on a course
designed to undermine and eventually overthrow

the Chicom regime.
[Downing speaking] The Third Force Program-- but it was really

a kind of covert action program, a very ambitious
one where we were hoping that we could unite

with a third force in China, that is neither
the Communists nor the discredited, we thought

at the time, Nationalists... and try and bring
that group uh. . . make them stronger and

possibly bring them into power.
[Downing finishes speaking]
By the spring of 1952, Jack Downey was in the

Far East area of operations training ethnic
Chinese agents to operate in Communist territory. But

from the beginning security was compromised.
[Dujmovic speaking] We had these people housed together, training

together, and once they learned of their uhm
.
. . missions they talked among each other.Uh.

. . so betrayal of one team would lead to
betrayal of others unfortunately. [Dujmovic finishes speaking]

The first team parachuted into Mainland China
and was never heard from again.The second

unit dropped into Manchuria in July and quickly
established radio contact with Downey's CIA

base. Two months later, a Chinese courier was
dispatched to gather intelligence.

[Downey speaking] The report from the radio said he- he arrived
safely, he was on his mission. The next time

the message was that he'd returned from his
mission, had much good news to tell and uh.

. . was waiting extraction. [Downey finishes speaking] The extraction plan
called for a plane to

swoop down to pluck the courier off the ground.
It was an audacious plan not least because

the Agency had never tried it before operationally.
[Fecteau speaking] They asked me if I would fly the mission into

China.I said, "Sure."I didn't object at all.

a pole that's extended from the plane and
with a hook on it.Uh. . . and the man that

we picked up would be sitting on the ground,
facing the plane, with a cu- cut off ba--

uh. . . parachute harness on.And we'd pick
him up.He would be jolted off the ground,

and then we'd- we'd just reel him in. I was