In August of 1967 I was shot down on my 101st mission near Dong Hoi, just north of the Demilitarized Zone. I was the co-pilot on an F4C. Both the pilot and I survived the crash and spent the next five and one-half years in a Communist prison in Hanoi — the Hanoi Hilton. Before I was shot down I had become disillusioned with the way we were fighting the war. The intent of what we were trying to do was absolutely correct. But we were going about accomplishing our goals in the wrong way.
The Ghosts of Vietnam
This Veterans Day marks a turning point in our nation’s recovery from the trauma of Vietnam. The last official prisoner of war, Col. Charles Shelton, an Air Force pilot, was declared dead this fall after having been kept administratively “alive” by the Pentagon for 30 years. Acknowledging Colonel Shelton’s death…..
