In the late 1960s, POW/MIA wives bucked government protocol and challenged the traditional role of “military wife.” These courageous women led by Sybil Stockdale on the West Coast, Jane Denton, Louise Mulligan, and Phyllis Galanti on the East Coast and later Helene Knapp in the Interior West organized to form the National League of POW/MIA Families. The women worked with Congress and the Nixon administration to demand accounting for their husbands and pursue their safe
Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr. used his eyes to blink the word “TORTURE” using Morse Code during his captivity in Vietnam. He was being filmed for propaganda purposes and this video was broadcast around the world. Naval Intelligence was able to decipher his “strange” blinking. He was awarded the Navy Cross, our Nation’s 2nd highest military honor for his heroism as a P.O.W.
Jeremiah Denton delivers a few words on the tarmac after his release in 1973
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard “Dog” Brenneman, pilot and Vietnam POW, shares his experience of being captured, kept prisoner and released from the Hanoi Hilton. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John F. Gonge, commander and pilot, shares how the 22d Air Force executed Operation Homecoming in 1973. Kathy Freeberg, daughter of retired U.S. Air Force Col. Alan Leslie Brunstrom, pilot and Vietnam POW, shares stories of her father and his return. Operation