Hanoi Hilton
During the
Vietnam War, Americans taken as
prisoners of war by the North Vietnamese were interned in Hoa Lo
prison, built by the French in 1901. The conditions there were so miserable, and the
food so bad, they ironically nicknamed the place
the Hanoi Hilton, and it was used as a place for the North Vietnamese army to
torture American prisoners. This was documented in the
Hollywood movie,
Hanoi Hilton. The prison was never actually affiliated with the
Hilton Hotel chain.
Senator John McCain was a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton. Currently there is a hotel in Hanoi with the same name (owned by Hilton).