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
Colonel Benjamin Purcell was executive commander of the 80th General Support Group in Vietnam when his helicopter was shot down on February 8, 1968. He and five other passengers were captured by the Viet Cong. Colonel Purcell was the highest ranking Army officer captured during the Vietnam War. He spent more
50 Years Ago ■Mrs. Mary Cutter, 211 Elm St., grandmother of Capt. James Cutter, prisoner of war in North Vietnam, reported this morning that she has learned her grandson will be among the last prisoners to be returned to the U.S. “He hasn’t been there (as a POW) as long
When a CM junior found out his great-grandmother wrote to American POWs in Vietnam, he shared the discovery with Mr. Bradley. West Roxbury, Mass.– As Catholic Memorial School junior Kevin Pumphret held the letter in his hands and read the words of Navy captain Bill Franke, his mind returned to a discussion from his American War in Vietnam course – the experience of prisoners of war.
News of the emergency landing of a U.S. spy plane on China’s Hainan Island is giving flashbacks to a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who spent 7-1/2 years as a POW in China. It was on that island that Philip Smith spent his first hours after he was shot down
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