Former POW and U.S. Air Force LCOL Armand Jesse Myers

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.

When Major Berger Came Home

Air Force Maj. James R. “Jim” Berger spent over six years as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war after his FC-4 jet was shot down on Dec. 2, 1966. He was released 50 years ago this past February. His release made front-page news in The News-Gazette in the weeks that

Vietnam POW is re-awarded medals lost in Harvey flood (Mike Penn)

When Hurricane Harvey’s floodwaters swept away the military medals of retired Navy Capt. Michael Penn, he considered the loss just one among many. “We spent about a week in shock,” said Penn, a Vietnam veteran who survived eight months as prisoner of war. “Not medical shock, but mental shock. We

Stephen A. Rudloff, 76Feb. 19, 1945 – May 31, 2021

Stephen Anthony Rudloff, Commander, United States Navy (Retired) who survived 323 days in captivity as a POW during the Vietnam War, passed away peacefully following a long illness the evening of Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, at his home on Nelson Avenue surrounded by family. He was 76. Born February

McCain bargained with his Vietnamese captors (Fred Thompson)

In his speech Sept. 2, 2008, to the Republican National Convention, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., recounted John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam after his Navy plane was shot down in October 1967. “They took him to the Hanoi Hilton, where he lapsed in and