Like a lot of men who turned 18 during World War II, Richard Paul Keirn signed up to do his duty with the U.S. military. His choice was the U.S. Army Reserve in his native Ohio. He joined in November 1942, but within three months, he was accepted to the
One hundred and eight former American prisoners of war landed here Wednesday, and the first man to debark told a cheering crowd, “Thank God, the United States of America, and all you wonderful, good-looking people.” The first of three C141 Starlifters that brought the returnees from Gia Lam Airport outside
Today I visited a prison; a prison that for years held many soldiers; a prison that concealed the terrible treatment of many American pilots; a prison that was a huge part of a very special man’s life.
Navy Lt. Brad Smith was on a bombing run to destroy a bridge in North Vietnam when he was shot down in 1966. He didn’t see what ripped into his A-4 Skyhawk, but he saw the ground approaching at 600 mph as his crippled jet nose-dived toward the ground. Smith
Col. James Lamar was shot down during a bombing mission over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent 7 years as a POW, including at the prison camp called the ‘Hanoi Hilton’