<Tr> <Th> Battles / wars </Th> <Td> Vietnam War </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Awards </Th> <Td> Army Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star Legion of Merit Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device Purple Heart (2) Air Medal </Td> </Tr> <P> Floyd James "Jim" Thompson (July 8, 1933--July 16, 2002) was a United States Army colonel . He was the longest held American prisoner of war in U.S. history, spending nearly nine years in captivity in the jungle camps and mountains of South Vietnam and Laos, and in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War . </P> <P> Jim Thompson was born July 8, 1933, in Bergenfield, New Jersey, as the son of a bus driver . He graduated from Bergenfield High School in 1951 . Thompson worked for the A&P supermarket before he was drafted by the United States Army on June 14, 1956 . He was at first a very truculent, rebellious soldier, but then decided that he liked the military . After basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he decided to make the military his career . </P>

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