40 Years of Freedom Former POW Allan Carpenter, a Sanford native, celebrates a ‘rebirthday’ milestone

How Naval Aviator Charles Klusmann escaped a vicious POW camp

Charles Frederic Klusmann was a Naval Aviator born on September 7, 1933, in San Diego, California. He joined the U.S. Naval Reserve on February 23, 1952, and began active service on March 18, 1953. Lieutenant Chuck is known for his extraordinary heroism and achievement for his role in the aerial

Beloit’s native son, Vietnam POW shares heart and soul of defending freedom (Ron Mastin)

The engineered violence U.S. Air Force pilots Ron Mastin and Tom Storey felt ejecting from an F-4 Phantom at 500 miles per hour was more shocking than impact of North Vietnamese ordinance that sent their jet crashing to the ground on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. On Mastin’s 34th aerial reconnaissance

Former POW reflects on anniversary (Ted Sienicki)

Ted Sienicki was an Air Force Weapon Systems Officer in May 1972, when his F-4 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he was forced to eject over North Vietnam. He spent 11 months as a prisoner of war. This weekend he will be in Hudson, Massachusetts, where the American Heritage Museum is

50 years later, Operation Homecoming a ‘symbol of the last warriors’ returning from Vietnam (Guarino, McNish)

Operation Homecoming, which freed now-retired Col. Tom McNish and more than 600 prisoners of war from Vietnam 50 years ago this spring, was the best military operation of McNish’s 34-year career. “Due to Operation Homecoming and the totally nourishing environment that it put us in immediately after getting out of

The Ghosts of Vietnam

This Veterans Day marks a turning point in our nation’s recovery from the trauma of Vietnam. The last official prisoner of war, Col. Charles Shelton, an Air Force pilot, was declared dead this fall after having been kept administratively “alive” by the Pentagon for 30 years. Acknowledging Colonel Shelton’s death…..