Come join our Deckerville area resident, Vietnam POW survivor and now retired United States Air Force Colonel Robert A. Abbott, as we step back 50 years to March 31, 1973.
First Lieutenant Loren Harvey Torkelson was from Crosby and was a month shy of his 26th birthday when his plane was shot down over North Vietnam. He was in his second tour of duty as an Air Force F4 Phantom pilot with the 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron when it happened.
“They stripped me of everything I had.” So began Charlie Crafts’ 26-month odyssey as a prisoner of war in the jungles of Vietnam. Crafts, who now lives in Livermore, consented to a rare interview on his experience as Maine’s first Vietnam POW, and the only one to be imprisoned in
If captured by the enemy and imprisoned during wartime, American servicemembers must summon the highest levels of courage. A pair of retired lieutenant colonels in Texas knows all too well what it’s like to be stripped of freedoms and have their patriotism and faith put to the test. Lawrence Barbay was
The Confederate flag has been at the center of a heated debate for the last few months. Now another flag is under fire. The POW-MIA flag designed by an Orange Park woman is being called “racist” by one published columnist. The Washington Spectator columnist Rick Perlstein’s piece titled “The Story of
Since last Veteran’s Day, Ken Burns’ in-depth documentary on the Vietnam War has aired. It is a powerful reminder of an unpopular war in which many “baby boomers” fought and died. It also prompts memories of the brutal treatment of American POWs and 1,350 who were listed as missing in