John L. Borling Photo Album

Photos of Major General John L. Borling, USAF (Ret.) and events surrounding his book Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton.

  • After more than six and a half years as a POW in Vietnam, John Borling walks his daughter Lauren to school for the first time.

  • John Borling is reunited with his wife and 7 year old daughter after 6 1/2 years of captivity in Vietnam.

  • John Borling and his wife, Myrna, on Graduation Day of Pilot Training, Laredo Air Force Base, 1964

  • 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron Mates, Bar, Ubon Air Base, Thailand, 1966

  • "The tap code became our lifeline, our means of passing along information and words of encouragement to one another. Besides our knuckles, we used anything that carried sound to tap the code." - John Borling

  • Viking in an 'Eagle'

  • Borling's sole possession while a POW was a cup, pictured here with POW bracelets sent to him after his return home.

  • "The green cup featured on the back cover [of TAPS ON THE WALLS] was my only constant companion during six and a half years of imprisonment in North Vietnam. It was, like me, battered, scarred, and ill-used. Upon my release in February 1973, I smuggled it out."--from the Afterword - Photo Credit John Borling

  • "My poems came home with me. Intensely private, they stayed with me. Now, these many years later, on the fortieth anniversary of release, we stand ready for scrutiny.... They remain pieces of my soul. I hope they become pieces of yours." - Photo Credit: L. Matjasko

  • In 2013, John Borling was interviewed by Pritzker Military Museum & Library President & CEO Kenneth Clarke about his poetry. View the full program under the "What's On" tab.

  • John Borling spoke at the 2013 NGAUS Convention in Honolulu, HI. He is pictured here with Director for JROTC at Punahou School LTC Robert Takao and Lisa Lanz of Tawani Foundation.

  • John Borling signs a book for Air Force veteran Fr. John McNalis at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library.

  • John Borling speaks to a group of cadets from Chicago Public Schools JROTC.

  • John Borling and John Barr, President of the Poetry Foundation

  • John Borling speaks with authors Rick Atkinson, Karl Marlantes, and Max Hastings at the 2013 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Liberty Gala.