William Spencer’s world turned upside down as he felt his F-4 Phantom hit by a heat-seeking missile fired from an MiG-21 that had come up underneath him. In a split second it began cartwheeling its fiery way to the ground, its tail section and left wing missing. The 29-year-old Air
To his children, Thomas Van Putten talked little about his service in the Vietnam War and his 13 months as a prisoner. But they knew he was a hero. “We all knew it was a big deal,” said Linda Milley, his daughter. Mr. Van Putten, whose escape from a Viet
Today I shook the hand of my alma mater’s most decorated alum. Was it Bill Nye ’77? Bill Maher ’78? Maybe Keith Olbermann ’79? Well it couldn’t have been any of these celebrities, because they’ve never filled a room with less than 10 people delivering a keynote address. So it
1,882 days; five and a half years. That’s how long Vietnam veteran Wayne Smith was a prisoner of war. “We were in pretty bad shape, we certainly were,” said Smith. He shared his story with us and dozens of people at Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum. The Air Force captain’s
Veterans Day has deep meaning for members of the military and their families. For Jessie Harris, a USPS custodian at the Westchester, NY, Processing and Distribution Center and an Army veteran, Nov. 11 is a day to reflect on one of the most harrowing experiences of his life: the four-and-a-half