Former POW Ralph Galati ’70 Found Purpose in Service

12 minutes with Vietnam war vet and former POW David Drummond

It was a few days before Christmas, 1972, when Jill Drummond got the worst present imaginable. It was a letter from the United States Air Force telling her that her husband David Drummond was officially missing in action in Vietnam. Shock, fear and worry all followed. What she didn’t know

Ernest Melvin Moore Jr. survived six years as a POW and was a Coronado Legend

He served his country proudly in Korea and Vietnam as a pilot in the US Navy. In 1967, at the age of 38, Captain Mel Moore was shot down over Vietnam. He spent 2,185 days in confinement at the notorious Hanoi Hilton — one week shy of six years. He

David B. Grant: Phantom Pilot and Prisoner of War

On June 24, 1972, U.S. Air Force Captain David B. Grant was flying a mission couple posing for picturefrom Thailand into conflict-ridden North Vietnam when his F-4 Phantom took a direct hit and exploded. The fuselage was separating when both Grant and his “back-seater,” Bill, ejected through the fireball. They

Where is the most austere or arduous place you spent the holidays while deployed? (Hughes, Alcorn)

On 22 December 1965, on a combat mission over North Vietnam, I was shot down and captured. I spent Christmas on a concrete floor in a North Vietnamese prison, arms tightly bound behind my back. For eight holiday seasons I enjoyed “the humane and lenient treatment of the North Vietnamese people,”

Avenue Of Heroes Banner Recipient … Captain Render Crayton, USN

In early 1966, while flying a combat mission over North Vietnam, Captain Render Crayton’s A4E Skyhawk was struck by anti-aircraft fire. The plane suffered crippling damage, with a resulting fire and explosion. Unable to maintain flight, Captain Crayton ejected over enemy territory. What happened next, though, demonstrates his character and