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Grainger, meanwhile, had learned of the release of the two men and now demanded his own freedom. When the Viet Cong refused, Grainger went on a five-day hunger strike. That was around Jan. 1. Five days later—how it happened nobody knows—Grainger managed to slip his chains and escape.
For seven days, the Viet Cong stalked him in the jungles, but Grainger hid in a marsh. Then, on Jan. 12, the Communists, drawn to the vicinity by the sounds of water buffaloes snorting nervously, found him. Grainger was standing by a small stream, clad only in his shorts. He was washing the mud from his clothes. The soldiers ordered him to surrender, but he tried to run, and a soldier named Hai downed him with a single shot. He was carried to a nearby hamlet, where after five hours without medical aid he died.