Tom Latendresse has what his wife Melinda calls “the Latendresse laugh,” a big, boisterous chuckle that can shake up a room. It’s hard not to appreciate the sound and the man who voices it. Born in Yakima, Wash., Tom was infatuated with aviation as a child. “I would jump on
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
August 25, 1972 dawned hot and muggy in Vietnam. Pilots of Fighter Squadron 161, stationed aboard USS Midway (CV 41), readied their aircraft and went over the day’s flight plan. Their mission was an early evening MiG combat air patrol over North Vietnam. Lt. John “Jack” Ensch would serve as
Stephen Anthony Rudloff, Commander, United States Navy (Retired) who survived 323 days in captivity as a POW during the Vietnam War, passed away peacefully following a long illness the evening of Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, at his home on Nelson Avenue surrounded by family. He was 76. Born February
On Oct. 28, 1967, 38-year-old Thomas H. Kirk Jr. ’50B left Takhli Air Base in Thailand flying an F-105 Thunderchief aircraft. He was heading for Hanoi, the most heavily defended city in the world. Kirk led 48 bombers, plus supporting aircraft, in the largest air attack on Hanoi during the