George Coker: A story of perseverance

It was supposed to be a routine mission, a “milk run” in the words of George Coker, who was serving on his 55th missions in Vietnam as a bombardier/navigator. Usually, his missions consisted of flying over Vietnam from the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and bombing strategic points like bridges and roads. This mission was no different.

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Ex-POW that Jerry West honored featured in PS Air Museum (Robert Barnett)

The Palm Springs Air Museum’s collection of Vietnam-era POW/MIA bracelets has steadily grown since the first bracelet — bearing the name of U.S. Air Force Col. Norman Schmidt — was donated in late February. There are now close to 50 of these bracelets on display at the air museum, thanks

Witness To Captivity: Staff Sergeant Jon Cavaiani’s POW Pajamas

Ironically, Cavaiani should never have been in Vietnam in the first place. Born in Britain in 1943, he immigrated to the United States in 1947. When American involvement in Vietnam was ramping up in the late 1960s, he discovered that he was considered medically unfit to serve because he was

Behind Barbed Wire: A POW’s Story (Ed Leonard)

I arrived at Udorn RTAFB in early May, 1967, to fly A-1E and A1-H Skyraider with the 602nd Fighter Squadron (Commando). I was to fly 247 combat missions during three consecutive tours and participated in the rescue of 18 aircrew members. On May 31, 1968, going for number 19, I

The Volunteer State Goes to War: A Salute to Tennessee Veterans (Robert Peel)

The Vietnam War was, essentially, an internal conflict between communist forces in North Vietnam and the pro-western government in South Vietnam. It had begun as a war between colonial French and nationalist Vietnamese armies, but after France’s devastating defeat in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954, the country

COLONEL THOMAS MOE: AMERICAN POW IN NORTH VIETNAM

Brought down by a faulty fuze on his wingman’s bomb, Tom Moe survived more than five years as a POW in North Vietnam.