“Roanoke Rapids is my Mayberry,” the former Prisoner of War said during a book-signing of the Glenn Robins-penned The Longest Rescue, which documents Robinson's ordeal throughout numerous North Vietnamese prison camps. “The more I think about it, the hard lessons of that, I thought of better times I had riding bikes up and down the avenue and the sports teams.”

Robinson now lives in Tennessee but has immediate family in Roanoke Rapids.

Today he visited the Roanoke Valley Veterans Museum in Becker Village Mall to sign copies of the book.

“As far as we know, it's selling well,” he said. “It's certainly not at the Bill O'Reilly level. We've had a number of books sold. It's already into its second printing.”

The book, released on September 4, was five years in the making, Robinson said. “There were so many facts that needed to be certified.”

That is because, according to a description on Amazon, Robins tells Robinson's story using an array of sources, including declassified U.S. military documents, translated Vietnamese documents, and interviews from the National Prisoner of War Museum.

While it is Robinson's story, it is a dedication to all veterans. “The thing that brought me through my era were the ones who went before me and to say thank you to the ones who wear the uniform today.”

Robinson, who was a crew chief aboard an air force rescue helicopter when shot down September 20, 1965, over the Ha Tinh Province, sees dwindling support of America's military now. “In World War II we were all in. In my era it was 10 percent. Now it's one percent. I am really grateful to those willing to sacrifice life and limb.”

His capture and seven years and five months imprisonment were a lesson in how to live life, he said. “It's like that song that says live like you were dying. You lived every day. You filled every day with every nit and bit of knowledge. We all became experts. We all had something to share no matter if you were a high school graduate or had a doctorate.”

His group served as a welcoming committee for presidential candidate John McCain. “He is very lucky to be alive,” Robinson said.

The worst part of captivity, he said, was not physical torture, “But torture to be part of the communist propaganda machine,” which he believes the North Vietnamese won the day Walter Cronkite declared the United States lost the war. “Any major battles won we never got credit for. These were honorable men and women who served our country.”

The best part, aside from the thoughts of home, was the Son Tay Prison Camp Raid, which did not end Robinson's captivity, but made the plight slightly better. “It went from hell to a liveable hell.”