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

Randolph County native became Vietnam prisoner of war (Gail Kerns)

It’s been nearly 45 years since Staff Sgt. Gail M. Kerns kissed the ground when he stepped back on United State soil, after surviving 1,439 days as a prisoner of war. Kerns was shot on the left side of his head when he and his fellow American soldiers were ambushed

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 San Pedro POW recalls captivity with John McCain (John Fer)

Isolated, they tapped on walls to communicate with each other in the beginning. Later, with a little more freedom granted, they played bridge together, shared some of the rotating Sunday chaplain duties and encouraged each other with the recitations from movies, books and poetry. The memories, now half a century

Lessons in leadership, faith, suffering (David Baker)

When I worked in the Pentagon several years ago, I had the honor and privilege of working for Brig. Gen. David “Bull” Baker. Baker was a colorful character — I could always hear him coming long before I saw him. He was loud, good-natured and powerful and had earned the

The story of a small, handmade American flag that gave hope to POWs at the “Hanoi Hilton” during Vietnam War (Dramesi)

Freedom has a taste to those who fight and almost die that the protected will never know.” –A POW saying left on a wall in the Hoa-Lo Prison known to Westerners as the “Hanoi Hilton.” A small American flag on display at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum was a