The Air & Space Forces Association recognized American prisoners of war during its 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, as part of the association’s ongoing commemoration of the end of the Vietnam War. Of some 170 individuals who appeared on stage throughout the three-day conference in National Harbor, Md., five
Only a month earlier, they were prisoners of war. Since their release, Navy Lieut. Robert Frishman and Seaman Douglas Hegdahl have been recuperating at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The third released P.W., Air Force Captain Wesley Rumble, 26, whose fighter-bomber went down over Quang Binh province in
It took her 44 years, but Morreen O’Reilly-Mersberger finally tracked down the prisoner of war whose name was on a bracelet that she purchased in college and kept to this day. The 62-year-old Plymouth resident bought the item for $2 in the fall of 1970 from a student group on
It was Nov. 7, 1967 and U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Leon Ellis was co-piloting an F-4C Phantom over North Vietnam when his aircraft was suddenly hit by enemy fire. It exploded into pieces and was quickly tumbling to the ground. He managed to eject safely, but found himself parachuting
Donald and Donna Rogers wore bracelets on their wrists for three decades, honoring prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Like millions of other Americans in the 1970s, they purchased bracelets with names of POW’s on them to keep their memory alive. Devout patriots, the Rogers hoped that one day they would be