Kevin McManus, 65; Vietnam War POW

Kevin McManus, 65, an Air Force pilot shot down over North Vietnam who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war and later retired as a lieutenant colonel, died of lung cancer July 31 at his home in Oakton.

Two weeks before he was scheduled to leave Vietnam, and two months after a four-day honeymoon with his childhood sweetheart, then-Capt. McManus was shot down northeast of Hanoi on June 14, 1967. He and his co-pilot, Edward J. Mechenbier, parachuted to earth and were immediately captured, bound and marched as war criminals through villages leading to a Hanoi prison complex.
They remained in captivity for five years and eight months. Both were released in February 1973.
On his way home, Capt. McManus told reporters at Clark Air Base in the Philippines that he had no qualms about leaving Vietnam and returning to freedom. “I’ve talked to my wife and she hasn’t changed, and that’s what really counts,” he said. He also said they “decided to have 16 kids — after that it didn’t matter.”
Read more

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

James Lollar, Together We Served

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

Read More »

Vietnam POW retells his tale (Donald Heiliger)

A prisoner of war for seven years, a University of Wisconsin alum spoke to a group of UW Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets Tuesday, telling a jarring tale of courage, honor and service. Originally trained as a navigator, Col. Don Heiliger became an official pilot when the Air

Read More »

Expendable (Tinsley, Garwood)

Remember Bobby Garwood, and his story of the abandonment of US POWs in Vietnam? He claimed that hundreds of US POWs were abandoned during the Paris Peace talks in 1973 by Kissinger. A “Top Secret” Russian document was uncovered recently in their archives – a communist report from North Vietnam

Read More »