Opened in September 2025, “Return with Honor” is an expansive, interactive exhibit the captures the experience of American prisoners of war (POW) in North Vietnam. 

Visitors enter the exhibit passing by a living room scene that represents the families on the home front whose lives were shattered with delivery of a telegram informing them that their husband, son or brother had been shot down. Entering the bed of a truck depicting the the transport to Hanoi, they hear former POWs their aircraft being hit by enemy fire, the violence of ejecting and the first moments surrounded by an angry enemy on the ground.

Exiting the truck, visitors find themselves at the entrance to the Hao Lo (fiery furnace in Vietnamese), the infamous prison in the North Vietnamese capital that the POWs nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton.” Walking down a darkened hall, they learn about interrogation and torture in a depiction of the so-called knobby room and see a depiction of a typical cell, complete with some original component from the Hanoi Hilton.

Reaching the end of the prison corridor, visitors exit through the recreation of the doorway of a U.S. Air Force transport. Here they follow in the footsteps of returning POWs being welcomed home by their families with original footage of joyous reunions visible in front of them. There is also information about the efforts of dedicated wives and family members who kept the POW issue in the public consciousness throughout the Vietnam War. 

A unique interactive component of the exhibit is the opportunity to ask questions of CDR Everett Alvarez, Jr., USN (Ret), who was shot down on August 5, 1964, and was the first American held prisoner by the North Vietnamese. He remained in captivity until February 1973. AI searches through responses from two days of interviews with Alvarez to find answers to questions posed by visitors.  

The exhibit draws upon the museum’s rich collection of artifacts donated by Vietnam POWs, including prison garb and items fashioned to meet daily needs.