This afternoon, I had the honor of visiting Colonel John Dramesi, Vietnam Prisoner Of War and author of the Code of Honor, with several friends.
Most probably had seen it before, but the symbol-filled ceremony honoring prisoners of war and service members missing in action that began the penultimate day of the Vietnam Veterans of America National Convention in Springfield still tugged at the emotions of the 200 or so vets who attended the 7
Almost 50 years ago this month, they began to arrive. It was called Operation Homecoming, and it saw 591 American military prisoners of war finally free after years of often brutal captivity in Vietnam. Over several weeks in February and March of 1973, they were returned to military bases in
n December 1972—40 years ago this month—the US executed Linebacker II, the largest B-52 bombing campaign of all time. The period from Dec. 18 to Dec. 29 saw the huge USAF bombers mount shattering strikes on North Vietnamese railways, airfields, surface-to-air missile storage sites, petroleum dumps, and other infrastructure targets
Seven American prisoners of war were seen and two were interviewed by this reporter to day in a small prison camp on the outskirts of Hanoi. They indicated that the con ditions of their captivity were satisfactory, and they spoke calmly but with obvious feeling about the war and of
As an F-4 Phantom pilot, I had tried to kill these men. And they had tried to kill me. I thought it was time we had a talk.