An Indomitable Spirit (Bernard Talley)

ISSUE OF MISSING IN VIETNAM HAS NOT FADED AFTER DECADE (Gerald Venanzi)

Donald Shay’s father is retired now. Donald’s little sister has two young children of her own. His fiancee finally married someone else. And Donald’s mother doesn’t bake his favorite apple pie much anymore; the good smell brings back too many bad memories. Mr. Shay doesn’t know any of this. And

Firsthand Account of Congressman Sam Johnson, Vietnam War POW

Congressman Sam Johnson, first elected in 1991 to represent the Plano area, spent twenty-nine years in the United States Air Force, where he distinguished himself piloting missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars before retiring in 1979 as a colonel. His F-4 Phantom was shot down in 1966 while

POW recalls captivity (Bradley Smith)

Navy Lt. Brad Smith was on a bombing run to destroy a bridge in North Vietnam when he was shot down in 1966. He didn’t see what ripped into his A-4 Skyhawk, but he saw the ground approaching at 600 mph as his crippled jet nose-dived toward the ground. Smith

Ring returned to Vietnam POW 44 years after imprisonment (Hivner, Barrett)

With the traditional “I do’s” and exchange of wedding bands some 54 years ago on Oct. 1, 1955, James and Phyllis Hivner began their life’s journey together which, like many young couples, began with not knowing what the future held. That journey was rocked 10 years later, almost to the day, when then-Capt.

Looking back to when Laurel welcomed home first Southeast Asia POW (Lawrence Bailey)

The specially modified, intelligence-gathering C-47 plane lifted off from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, March 23, 1961, and headed north toward Xieng Khouangville, a Communist-held area. The experienced Air Force crew was accompanied by Army Maj. Lawrence R. Bailey, a Laurel resident serving as the assistant Army attache in Vientiane.