Visitors step through a recreation of the “Maison Centrale” prison doors and will work through the space in a counterclockwise fashion once inside.

Starting with “The Air War”, visitors learn about the missions that were being launched deep into Vietnam and the incredible risk crews were subjected to by the ever-present threat of anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. Personal stories will recount the experience of being shot down, the slim odds of being rescued behind enemy lines, and the horrors of capture.

Next, using a recreation of the “Knobby Room” - the infamous interrogation room that was one of the most terrible memories for most POWs, visitors learn what POWs endured in the first weeks after capture, including cruel torture that left physical and emotional scars to any who survived.

Upon leaving the cell, visitors learn about the efforts that were made in America by various groups to negotiate the release of information on POWs held by the North Vietnamese and attempts to bring them home. The stories of notable POWs and their work after their release is projected on the wall above the exit of the cell area as visitors leave.

Visitors pass by the closed door of the reconstructed cell and will take a seat in a small, adjacent cell that allows them to look inside the cell they passed and learn about the isolation of prison life and the ways POWs attempted, at all costs, to communicate and help one another month-after-month, year-after-year. A video presentation, narrated by actual POWs, is projected on the opposite wall where POWs recount their personal experiences of being held captive in crushing isolation.

As visitors leave the exhibit, they can learn more about all of the Prisoners of War who were kept at the Hanoi Hilton through an interactive touchscreen outside the exhibit. Visitors may learn about their life before, during, and after their time at the Hanoi Hilton - those who returned and those who, tragically, did not.