POW’s get new honor aboard USS Turner Joy (William J. Metzger)

Martin Stanley Frank

On 12 July 1967; Sgt. Cordine McMurray, then Sgt. Martin S. Frank, SP4 James L. Van Bendegom; SP4 James F. Schiele, SP4 Nathan B. Henry, SP4 Stanley A. Newell, and SP4 Richard R. Perricone were riflemen assigned to a search and destroy patrol operating in the Ia Drang Valley, Pleiku

‘You feel a camaraderie’: Vietnam vets reconnect (William Talley)

William “Bill” Talley was eating lunch in the cafeteria at his senior living center one day in June when a man walked up to him. This was the man’s greeting: “Hey, I’m Jim Null. I remember when you got shot down.” U.S. Air Force pilots Talley, 88, and Null, 77, were

Vietnam POW speaks to 15th Wing senior leaders (Thomas Norris)

The 15th Wing opened Readiness Day, where senior leaders discussed maintaining optimal mission readiness, Aug. 24 here, at Hollister Auditorium, with a speech on individual readiness and resiliency from a former prisoner of war. Retired Air Force Col. Thomas Norris, then a captain, was shot down Aug. 12, 1967, after dropping bombs

Optimism helped Vietnam vet survive as POW (Spike Nasmyth)

When 2nd Lt. John “Spike” Nasmyth climbed into his F-4 Phantom II on Sept. 4, 1966, to fly a combat mission over Vietnam, he never foresaw that he’d be blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile. The last words he heard before his jet was transformed into a

Derby resident Ken Johnson was a POW, decorated Air Force pilot

Not many local residents know the name Kenneth R. Johnson, nor his story, but like millions of his fellow citizens, Johnson served his country as a member of the U.S. armed forces. His service as an Air Force pilot, though, was exemplary, and for it, he received numerous commendations. Among