When I worked in the Pentagon several years ago, I had the honor and privilege of working for Brig. Gen. David “Bull” Baker. Baker was a colorful character — I could always hear him coming long before I saw him. He was loud, good-natured and powerful and had earned the
After an emotional speech, former prisoner-of-war Gary L. Thornton looked at the flag-draped casket holding the remains of his friend and mentor, Thunderbirds pilot Russell C. Goodman, and snapped a salute. “Welcome home to the hero, professional and patriot,” Thornton said. “Welcome home, Major Russell Clayton Goodman, United States Air
Here’s how Nevada Republican delegate Bill Elander describes becoming a prisoner of war: a bad day. “After 50 or 60 missions, I had a bad day,” the Sparks resident and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel said in an interview at the national GOP convention. “I was shot down in 1972
A physician now working in South Carolina is among those persons who can discuss torture from the personal perspective of having been its victim. Nearly 20 years ago, on Sept 4, 1966, Thomas M. McNish—then a fighter pilot in the US Air Force and still a professional military officer—was shot
The morning he flew his 266th mission over Vietnam, Air Force Capt. Tony Marshall only knew the pilot in the seat in front of him, Capt. Steve Cuthbert, by reputation. Tall and thin with a shock of sandy blond hair, Cuthbert never suffered a lack of confidence flying the F-4 Phantom. “He told