8-year POW recalls return home 45 years later (Smitty Harris)

Viet Nam Veterans Of America Chapter 203 Recognizes POW John Sparks

The Viet Nam Veterans of America Chapter 203 recognized POW John Sparks at its March meeting on Monday night. In April, 1968, Mr. Sparks was flying a reconnaissance mission over North Viet Nam when his OV-1 Mohawk twin engine fixed wing aircraft was shot down. He was captured and spent

A POW’s story (William McMurry)

Bill McMurry recently spoke to SaddleBrooke Sunrise Rotary about his experience as a POW in North Vietnam. He was captured on February 7, 1968 after helping defend the Lang Vei Special Forces surveillance camp in the northwestern corner of South Vietnam, about one and a half miles from the Laotian

POW Bracelet Leads to Friendship Years Later (William Spencer)

William Spencer’s world turned upside down as he felt his F-4 Phantom hit by a heat-seeking missile fired from an MiG-21 that had come up underneath him. In a split second it began cartwheeling its fiery way to the ground, its tail section and left wing missing. The 29-year-old Air

Laird Guttersen, 80; Ex-POW Aided Families of Military Prisoners

Retired Air Force Col. Laird Guttersen, 80, who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp and later became an advocate for families of missing military personnel, died June 13 in Tucson of complications of a stroke, according to family members. His F-4 Phantom was shot down over North

State Tells Vietnam Ex-POW Only Dead POWs’ Kin Get Aid (Johnnie Ray)

For nearly 20 years, former Army Capt. Johnnie Ray remained grateful that Oklahoma had eased his return as a Vietnam prisoner of war by granting free college tuition to his children. But when he tried to get free tuition at his own alma mater, Oklahoma State University, for his daughter,