GOUIN, DONAT JOSEPH

Name: Donat Joseph Gouin
Rank/Branch: E7/ United States Army
Unit: Armed Forces TV- Hue
Date of Birth: 1929
Home City of Record: Fort Know KY
Date of Loss: 03 February 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 1662932 North 1073438 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel in Incident: none

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: 730305 RELEASED BY DRV

SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
UPDATE - 09/95 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

DONAT J. GOUIN
Master Sergeant - United States Army
Captured: February 3, 1968
Released: March 5, 1973

"I arrived In Saigon on Easter Sunday 1967. I was assigned to AFRTS in
Saigon; then in May I was sent to hue. I was the Chief Engineer for the TV
station in Hue. During the TET Offensive, the area was overrun and our
quarters were attacked. I was taken prisoner February 5, 1968 and held in
small camps along the way to North Vietnam.

I entered North Vietnam on Easter Sunday 1968 and arrived in the Hanoi area
in August 1968. I was in two camps outside Hanoi until the day before
Thanksgiving 1970 when they moved me to "Plantation Gardens." Then on
December 27, 1972 I was moved for the last time to the "Hanoi Hilton." I was
kept there in the "Vegas Compound" until my release on March 5, 1973."

Sgt. Gouin's background includes 20 years of service in the Army before his
capture in 1967. Born in Central Falls, Rhode Island in 1929, he enlisted in
the Army in August 1947. He was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii from
1948 to 1952, at Ft. Wainwright, Alaska from 1953 to 1954 and at Ft. Gordon,
Georgia from 1954 to 1955. He attended the Advanced Television School in Los
Angeles from 1955 to 1956 and then was assigned to the Army Pictorial
Center, New York City from 1956 to 1958. From 1958 to 1960 he was assigned
to Kagnew Station, Asmara, Eritrea (Ethiopia). He returned to the Army
Pictorial Center in New York for a year and then was at Ft. Monmouth, New
Jersey from 1961 to 1967. In 1967 he went to Vietnam.

He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the
Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, and the Air Force
Outstanding Unit Award.

At present, Sgt. Gouin is in Fort Knox, Kentucky with his wife, Alma Jane
Batch Gouin and his three children, Elizabeth Jane, Barbara Jean and Carl
Joseph. He is assigned to the Armor School TV Division.

Personal Reflections:
"I want to thank the American people for their reception, especially the
people in Lima, Ohio, my wife's home town, and Central Falls, Rhode Island.

"I want you to remember this: Keep your faith in God and your country and
nothing will be too difficult."

December 1996
Donat Gouin retired from the Unites States Army as a Master Sergeant. He and
Alma reside in Ohio.

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