Former POW speaks to Vietnam veterans (Elbert)

Mishawaka native’s spirit never broke as a Vietnam POW 50 years ago (Richard Brenneman)

Mishawaka native Richard “Dog” Brenneman jokes about the deprived quarters where he spent 1,953 days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “You had a bucket to go potty, and if you were lucky, you had a lid,” recalls the 75-year-old retired Air Force officer, chuckling. “You usually had a

Vet has no regrets about Vietnam (Thomas Collins)

Thomas Collins III would like to clarify one point about his bombing missions in Vietnam, and the more than seven years he spent as a prisoner of war: It was not a mistake, not a waste, not a failure. “We needed to stop communism,” says Collins, 74, a retired U.S.

POW Ben Pollard

Ben Pollard got a lot of mail his last week in prison, as many letters as he’d received in the preceding six years combined: four. – No matter that they dated to 1968, .and this was 1973. ; That sort of conduct “made (the iNorth Vietnamese) wonderful enemies,” said Pollard,

POW recalls mission that led to capture 50 years ago (Richard Smith)

On Oct. 25, 1967, now retired Lt. Col. Richard Smith and his wingmen had orders to bomb the Paul Doumer Bridge in North Vietnam; the bridge was a mile long and one of the most heavily defended positions in Southeast Asia. Smith said that leading up to the mission, he

From a POW wristband, a journey surfaces with many twists (Glenn Wilson)

It was an unusual treasure the Stevenson Creek dredging contractor found – a Vietnam-era prisoner of war (POW) wristband. Employees of Gator Dredging of Clearwater, Florida discovered the bracelet when their hydraulic barge’s hose sucked it from the creek during dredging operations. “It traveled through approximately 500 yards of pipe