The Beginning of My Crime Spree Episode 196 • So There I Was . . .

The Beginning of My Crime Spree sounds like a joke—until Captain Mike “Masher” McGrath explains how survival inside the Hanoi Hilton sometimes meant quietly breaking the rules.

In this episode of So There I Was, Masher, a retired US Navy A-4 Skyhawk and A-7 Corsair pilot, recounts flying 179 combat missions over Vietnam before being shot down in 1967 and spending nearly six years as a Prisoner of War in Hanoi. He shares firsthand stories of resistance, resilience, and the subtle “crimes” POWs committed to survive captivity—communicating in secret, organizing under pressure, and refusing to break.

Told with dry humor, clarity, and perspective earned the hard way, this conversation offers an unfiltered look at life as a POW during the Vietnam War and how human will, discipline, and leadership endured under brutal conditions. Masher also discusses how he later documented these experiences through stark artwork and his book Prisoner of War—Six Years in Hanoi.

This is not history from a textbook—it’s lived experience, told straight.