(NEXSTAR) — He was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for a staggering six years. An Air Force pilot who shared a bond—and a prison cell—with the late Sen. John McCain is now sharing his story, as the nation marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon.

It was supposed to be his final scheduled flight over Vietnam. On Nov. 11, 1966, Orson Swindle was piloting an F-8 Crusader. He had already completed 205 missions when he was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese.

“And we knew we were going to be beaten down. That was a given,” Swindle said.

He would spend the next 2,305 days as a prisoner at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, confined in brutal conditions where torture and starvation were common. He shared a cell with McCain, sleeping side by side for years.

“We tried to keep track of who got in when, and I think I was number 144,” he said.

Swindle described the prison as a filthy, rat-infested compound with cement slabs for beds. Beatings and torture were the norm. Isolation and interrogations were commonplace. “It never entered my mind that I was going to give up,” said Swindle.

Any attempts to escape were often fatal. “You’re not going to get down on yourself and quit resisting, you’re going to keep going,” he said. “All of us suffered from a guilt feeling that we hadn’t done enough, we weren’t tough enough.”

In early 1973, the nightmare came to an end. Prisoners were lined up and told they’d be released. Only after they were loaded onto an airplane did they really believe it.

The only good thing to come from the horror he experienced in Hanoi was a brotherhood among those held captive. Lifelong friendships that mirrored those of siblings, especially with the late Senator McCain, who died in 2018.

“It was very personal. We were very close friends,” Swindle said. “And we had our disagreements, God knows. We’d have these vicious arguments and everything. And when we came over, it continued. He’s a funny guy. So yeah, I loved John.”

Returning to normal life after so many years in captivity came with its own challenges.

“You know, my wife and I had grown apart. We tried, but just never got it back together,” Swindle said. “About 10 years later, we got a divorce.”

After Vietnam, Swindle continued his military career, retiring as a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, and later served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce under President Ronald Reagan.

Now 88, he is one of the last surviving Vietnam POWs.

“It’s just one of the prices you pay for getting old,” he said.

The 52 years since his release have given Swindle plenty of time to think about the war—why it happened, and what went wrong.

“We had a noble cause in Vietnam, and we screwed it up royally,” Swindle said. “It didn’t work out. And it’s sad and just tragic because it could have worked out.”