Iowa Veteran Major Harold Johnson Describes Being Prisoner of War in Vietnam

OPERATION HOMECOMING: THE STORY OF LTC (RET.) RAYMOND SCHRUMP

During the Vietnam War, there were 725 U.S. Prisoners of War (POWs). Operation Homecoming was a series of diplomatic negotiations that made the return of 591 American prisoners of war held by North Vietnam possible in 1973. The operation was divided into three phases; the first phase required the initial reception of prisoners

Mad Dog McDow (Rick McDow)

Meet Colonel (Retired) “Mad Dog” Rick McDow, United States Air Force. This southern gentleman and Tuscaloosa grad (ROLL TIDE!) had dreams of becoming a military aviator, having heard stories from his uncle who flew jets during the Korean War. Amidst the backdrop of Vietnam, Rick joined the Air Force

Homecoming or Rude Awakening? (Jose Luna)

Soon after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, the United States prepared for Operation Homecoming. Five hundred and ninety-one American prisoners of war returned home from Vietnam during the two-month process. Previously, during the war, 129 pows “escaped from,evaded, or were released by their captors,” including

Freed Vietnam POW makes it home (Seeber, Stockdale, Sigler, Newell)

For the past few weeks, the Pekin Public Library has displayed a gallery of photographs taken in Japan in 1945 by World War II veteran A. Dean Riedlinger of Pekin, who served in the Occupation Forces in Japan immediately after the war’s end. His photos of Japan will remain on

A heroic connection (Charlie James)

It took her 44 years, but Morreen O’Reilly-Mersberger finally tracked down the prisoner of war whose name was on a bracelet that she purchased in college and kept to this day. The 62-year-old Plymouth resident bought the item for $2 in the fall of 1970 from a student group on