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

Ex POW’s Mull Lessons (Raymond Vissotzky)

When the agony ended and everyone had told his story of horror, did anything come out of the tragedy that could be a lesson to others? That is the question being studied by a team of ex-prisoners of war, led by Col. Raymond W. Vissotzky, at the Survival School at

Read More »