Interviewee: Colonel William Austin, Airforce Commissioned: September 1960. Honorable Discharge: October 1988 Served: Vietnam 1967 – March 1973 Special Duties: RB47 Navigator, F4 Test Pilot, F4D “Phantom II” Navigator, Wild Weasel Hunter Prisoner of War
Retired Air Force Col. Robert Certain, a B-52 navigator and former prisoner of war, worked with MOAA to organize a trip back to Vietnam to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Operation Homecoming and the return of more than 600 POWs from North Vietnam. Seven former POWs as well as family and friends joined Certain to see southern Vietnam and Cambodia and return to Hanoi to see what remains of the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison.
Vietnam Prisoners of War recall their experiences and the inspirational story of how they not only survived their imprisonment, but found growth and gratitude afterwards. Their stories are juxtaposed with those of recent Naval Academy Midshipmen who are facing the COVID pandemic and applying those same foundational values to their own experiences.