Jim Lollar was born on August 23, 1945, in Kilmichael, Mississippi. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on March 26, 1967, and was trained in Weapons Maintenance. He served a double-tour at Phan Rang AB, South Vietnam, first in aircraft armament, and then as a door-gunner from August 1967 to August 1969. After an assignment with NATO, Sgt Lollar went through flight training to become a B-52 tail-gunner. He flew combat missions from Kadena AB, Okinawa, U-Tapao Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, and Andersen AFB, Guam, from July 1972 until his aircraft was shot down over North Vietnam on December 20, 1972. Sgt Lollar was taken as a Prisoner of War by the North Vietnamese and spent the next 98 days in captivity before being released during Operation Homecoming on March 29, 1973. After returning from Vietnam, Sgt Lollar completed his degree and was commissioned through Officer Training School in March 1977. Lt Lollar was next assigned to the Air Force Audit Agency at MacDill AFB, Florida, and then served with Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Division in contract procurement at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Capt Lollar left the Air Force on January 22, 1982, and started a carpentry company building homes.
The Way We Were: The POWs came home in 1973 (Felix Neco-Quinones)
Almost 50 years ago this month, they began to arrive. It was called Operation Homecoming, and it saw 591 American military prisoners of war finally free after years of often brutal captivity in Vietnam. Over several weeks in February and March of 1973, they were returned to military bases in
