Thomas Collins III would like to clarify one point about his bombing missions in Vietnam, and the more than seven years he spent as a prisoner of war:
It was not a mistake, not a waste, not a failure.
“We needed to stop communism,” says Collins, 74, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel. “It was a good mission. We needed to nip that in the bud, and we did. Actually, Vietnam was successful. We stopped communism.”
But the matter of our American servicemen who have sacrificed their freedom, their health, and the peace of mind of themselves and their families in behalf of freedom for others—this is a matter that concerns us all. By the hundreds, these men languish in North Vietnam prisons and in Viet
Commemorating Veterans Day at the Deuel High School gym Monday, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Lebert recounted his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Lebert, a 1960 graduate of Watertown High School, joined the Air Force in 1965. During his 89th mission, in January 1968, Lebert’s plane
In an AAFES parking lot at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, rests a plaque dedicated to former POWs from the Vietnam war, including some from the 388th Fighter Wing. It’s easy to walk past plaques, but this one is worth stopping to consider. For nearly a decade before it moved to Hill
Thursday, November 4, 19994House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Benjamin A. Gilman (Chairman of the Committee) Presiding. Chairman Gilman. The Committee will come to order. Members please take their seats.