40 Years Later: An Interview with a Former Vietnam POW (Willard Gideon)

Commander David Wheat and His Seven-Year Stay at the Hanoi Hilton

“There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war, and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It’s very hard in military or personal life to assure

George Coker: A story of perseverance

It was supposed to be a routine mission, a “milk run” in the words of George Coker, who was serving on his 55th missions in Vietnam as a bombardier/navigator. Usually, his missions consisted of flying over Vietnam from the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and bombing strategic points like bridges and

Where is the most austere or arduous place you spent the holidays while deployed? (Hughes, Alcorn)

On 22 December 1965, on a combat mission over North Vietnam, I was shot down and captured. I spent Christmas on a concrete floor in a North Vietnamese prison, arms tightly bound behind my back. For eight holiday seasons I enjoyed “the humane and lenient treatment of the North Vietnamese people,”

Two who came home: Former Vietnam POWs go for a ride at Randolph (Frederick McMurray)

Retired Lt. Col. Frederick McMurray lands at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph after his ceremonial “fini” flight, piloted by Maj. Ryan “Popeye” Parrish.JESSICA PHELPS/San Antonio Express-News Retired Maj. Theodore “Ted” Sienicki, who was shot down over North Vietnam and was a prisoner of war, climbs out of a T-38C after his

One of these Vietnam War POWs spent 10 months in a ‘tiger cage.’ What happened to the other was even worse (Mark Smith, Wallingford)

Staff Sgt. Ken Wallingford had only days left to serve in the US Army when he found himself trapped – and seconds away from being burned alive. He’d spent the previous night hiding in a bunker with another soldier at a base that had been overrun by the North Vietnamese