50 years later, Vietnam POWs from South Carolina getting recognized for their sacrifice (Charles Jackson)

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.

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