50 years ago, direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War officially ended as the last remaining combat troops and prisoners of war returned to American soil.
It was a complex moment for the country, as the war was deeply unpopular and ended in defeat. More than 58,000 Americans died in the war, along with three million Vietnamese. Fredrik Logevall told Under the Radar that Americans were ready for the war to be over.
Stepping off the bus, recently freed American prisoners of war formed up from the tallest to shortest, stiff at attention facing Capt. Carlyle “Smitty” Harris and with a salute they defied their Vietnamese captors one final time. Proving their grit and American pride could outlast any amount of torture or
I grew up in Burley, Idaho. We lived on a farm and I learned to work hard at an early age. I enlisted in the Air Force in 1956 when I was seventeen years old and spent two years in Japan and nearly two years in Germany. In 1960 I
The food at the Hanoi Hilton was worse than just bad. As a prisoner of war, Ted Sienicki found the bread full of insects. Many of the POWs ate the rations anyway — with predictable results. One prisoner removed something from his body — just what isn’t clear — that
Roque Matagulay born 3 Oct 1931 in Guam. He was an E-8, USA. He was captured 7/23/62 while on a mission for SVN forces in the south. He was exchanged for politcal prisoners 12/24/62. He and his wife had 6 children, 2 daughters and 4 sons. He was held by
Many of you knew this personable giant–Captain Harry Tarleton Jenkins, Jr. USN, (Ret). Harry died in a plane crash on August 2,1995, at Prescott, Arizona on a return trip to San Diego from the annual Experimental Aircraft Association convention and air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was flying the experimental