50 Years Ago
■Mrs. Mary Cutter, 211 Elm St., grandmother of Capt. James Cutter, prisoner of war in North Vietnam, reported this morning that she has learned her grandson will be among the last prisoners to be returned to the U.S. “He hasn’t been there (as a POW) as long as some,” Mrs. Cutter conceded. “He’s only been there about a year.”
Glory Denied is about the cost of war, in this case the Vietnam War, to an American family. But in many ways, it is also the story of our country’s painful growth in the 1960s and 70s. United States Army Colonel Floyd “Jim” Thompson, the longest held prisoner of war (POW)
The Communists freed 49 more American prisoners in Hanoi yesterday, including a charter pilot held since 1965, one of the civilian American prisoners held Iongest by the Vietcong. Also among the men freed were nine Americans and Canadian missionary captured in Laos. Two big flying hospitals brought the men from
Arthur Burera retired Air Force colonel who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent 83 months as a prisoner of war, has died. The highly decorated war hero, who was held for a time in Hanoi with a pilot named John McCain, was 77. Burer had Alzheimer’s disease.
“I may be older, but I’m a fighter pilot,” he said, smiling, as he shared his story of perseverance before a crowd of Kisling NCO Academy students, Sept. 12, 2016. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Melvin Pollack, Vietnam War veteran, was flying his 78th mission when he was shot down
Between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day lies a lesser-known but no less important commemoration. POW/MIA Day, Sept. 15, is a day for remembering the men and women who, like Air Force Col. Vernon P. Ligon Jr., have suffered at the hands of a wartime enemy. All too often, those who