Charles “Chuck” Jackson has little memory of the crushing sound of metal as his F-4 Phantom II broke apart.
What he does remember most is the split second before ejecting.
A heat-seeking missile, about 6 to 8 feet long, fired by a pursuing North Vietnamese MIG-21 went right up the two-seater’s jet exhaust while he and pilot Lt. James McCarty were on their return trip home from a bombing mission north of Hanoi.
Walking next to his father near a lake he fished as a boy, Navy Lieut. Markham Gartley looked up at the clear, blue sky and filled his lungs with crisp autumn air. The 28‐year‐old pilot noted the colors of the northern Maine woods—the McIntosh reds of the sugar maples, the
The Palm Springs Air Museum’s collection of Vietnam-era POW/MIA bracelets has steadily grown since the first bracelet — bearing the name of U.S. Air Force Col. Norman Schmidt — was donated in late February.
A prisoner of war for seven years, a University of Wisconsin alum spoke to a group of UW Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets Tuesday, telling a jarring tale of courage, honor and service. Originally trained as a navigator, Col. Don Heiliger became an official pilot when the Air
In 1973, hundreds of American Prisoners of War being held captive in Vietnam finally gained their freedom, boarding planes en route to the United States by way of Travis Air Force Base. On Friday, those veterans were honored for their service and sacrifice during the second and final day of
With the traditional “I do’s” and exchange of wedding bands some 54 years ago on Oct. 1, 1955, James and Phyllis Hivner began their life’s journey together which, like many young couples, began with not knowing what the future held. That journey was rocked 10 years later, almost to the day, when then-Capt.