Homecoming or Rude Awakening? (Jose Luna)

Stirring Up a Hornet’s Nest of MiGs: Maj. Leo Thorsness and Capt. Harold Johnson (Sterling, Madison)

On April 19, 1967, Maj. Leo Thorsness (pilot) and Capt. Harold Johnson (EWO) led a Wild Weasel formation on a mission against the Xuan Mai army barracks about 30 miles southwest of Hanoi. After they silenced one SAM site and destroyed another, enemy anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) shot down the accompanying

Utah’s Jay Hess survived more than 5 years in notorious Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam

Jay Hess was 14 years into his Air Force service. The fighter pilot, in the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief, was dropping 600 pound bombs in the heavily defended area around Hanoi, in north Vietnam. Hess finished the steep dive, released his bombs and began to pull out when his

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.

5 P.O.W.’S GREETED BY FAMILIES HERE (Cuis, Coker, Mehl, Budd, McLeary)

Five released prisoners of war landed at Kennedy International Airport last evening for joyous reunions. Two others were greeted by a crowd of 2,000 at Fort Monmouth, N. J. The Kennedy homecoming celebration began shortly before 7 o’clock when an Air Force Nightingale medical‐evacuation plane touched down and taxied to

Behind Barbed Wire: A POW’s Story (Edward 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