Vice Adm. Joseph Mobley, the U.S. military’s last Vietnam prisoner of war still on active duty, stepped down Thursday as commander of the Atlantic Fleet’s Naval Air Force. Mobley, 59, turned over command during a ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. He will retire May 1 after 35 years in the service. “I’ve had a great time in the Navy, seen so many places, done so many things,” Mobley told the 400 invited guests. He made no mention of his five years as a POW and refused all interview requests. Cmdr. Roxie Merritt, a Navy spokeswoman, said he is the last Vietnam POW on active duty in any branch of the U.S. military.
The Stunning True Story of Captain Jerry Coffee, a Prisoner of War for Seven Years in Vietnam
My friend Captain Jerry Coffee spent seven years and nine days in Hanoi as a prisoner of war in the Communist prisons of North Vietnam. While flying reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam, piloting his jet fighter, Captain Coffee was shot down by enemy fire. After parachuting to safety, he was captured by