There is no doubt, being told to stay home for months has many of us feeling stressed, anxious, and incredibly isolated.
While mental health experts have offered up advice, we thought it may help to hear from a local man, who likely knows more about social isolation than any of us.
News of the emergency landing of a U.S. spy plane on China’s Hainan Island is giving flashbacks to a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who spent 7-1/2 years as a POW in China. It was on that island that Philip Smith spent his first hours after he was shot down
In 1967, there was a “unit” of approximately 300 Americans fighting the Vietnam War from within a Hanoi prison. The unit—later named the 4th Allied POW Wing—was located in the drab North Vietnamese capital. Within this unit, every man had the same job: prisoner of war. All—except three enlisted airmen—were
The bright blue Corvette in David Harker’s garage holds a special place in his heart. It was a gift on the day in March 1973, when he returned to Lynchburg after five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. His classmates sold bumper stickers to raise money for the
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
To the North Vietnamese, Capt. James A. Mulligan Jr. had a “bad attitude.” As a result, he suffered heavily during his seven years in Hanoi prison. He spent 42 months in solitary confinement during the first four years, and for 16 of those months he was kept in a camp