How a Vietnam POW survived to salute the flag when he returned home (James Cook)

Hey Nashville. I’m Gary Estwick. One of my many hats at The Tennessean is race and culture editor. I want to share a story.

I’ll never forget reporter Danielle Dreilinger’s message when she let us know she made contact with our first Vietnam War veteran. For me, the crowning achievement of our series.

We replied on our internal messaging app with GIFs and celebratory words. For Danielle’s task was about as close to a needle in a haystack as you can find in journalism: Track down three Americans whose actions during the Vietnam War were immortalized through Associated Press photographs. 

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

American prisoners of war in Vietnam tell their stories

This paper seeks to examine the experiences of Vietnam POWs, both those held in the jungles of South Vietnam and those in the Hanoi prison camps of North Vietnam based on POW narratives consisting of memoirs, autobiographies, and interviews. Early POW history depicts great differences between the two groups of

Read More »

EB-66 Destroyer Vs MiG-21 Fishbed (Irby Terrell)

As explained by Peter E. Davies in his book B/EB-66 Destroyer Units in Combat, orbiting at the edge of heavily-defended territory, during the Vietnam War the vulnerable EB-66 Destroyer electronic warfare aircraft identified and jammed the enemy’s radar frequencies with electronic emissions and chaff to protect the American bombers. Their hazardous missions resulted in six

Read More »

War Story: A Shau Meatgrinder (Isaako Malo)

If you’re a six-man reconnaissance team deep in enemy territory, everything has to go right. When it doesn’t, brave men die. This is a story about things going terribly wrong for a recon team of the 101st Airborne Division’s famed Lima Company Rangers. The mission began on 23rd April 1971,

Read More »