Laird Guttersen, 80; Ex-POW Aided Families of Military Prisoners

Retired Air Force Col. Laird Guttersen, 80, who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp and later became an advocate for families of missing military personnel, died June 13 in Tucson of complications of a stroke, according to family members.

His F-4 Phantom was shot down over North Vietnam in 1968. After his release in 1973, he began calling on the U.S. government to give the public a complete accounting of Americans missing in action or still captive overseas.

The veteran pilot also criticized the White House for not doing more to help the families of POWs

Read more

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

P.O.W.S: At Last the Story Can Be Told (Rodney Knutson)

For weeks the returned P.O.W.s had been stepping from “freedom birds” onto the television screens—most of them saluting crisply, walking smartly, looking physically fit and acting mentally alert. As the nation’s early apprehensions faded, a new idea set in: perhaps the P.O.W.s had been humanely treated after all. That illusion

Read More »

Documentary honors Vietnam War Veteran Daniel H. Hefel

After 14 years of gathering war stories, Tim Breitbach created a documentary depicting his cousin’s life, Daniel Hefel, a Vietnam War veteran. The film was shown for free March 30 during a public gathering at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, which was attended by a diverse audience of college students,

Read More »