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
Col. Will Gideon, former 437th Supply Squadron commander, who spent nearly seven years locked deep within the jungles of North Vietnam as a POW. Through the darkness, Gideon never lost his light.
50 years ago, direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War officially ended as the last remaining combat troops and prisoners of war returned to American soil. It was a complex moment for the country, as the war was deeply unpopular and ended in defeat. More than 58,000 Americans died in the war,
Graduates from one of Lackland’s last Officer Candidate School classes, including an honorary class member and former Vietnam prisoner of war, reunited here to commemorate their 50th-year anniversary. Members of OCS Class 62-A, which graduated Sept. 22, 1961, were honored as special guests during the Sept. 23 Air Force Basic
Vice Adm. Joseph Mobley, the U.S. military’s last Vietnam prisoner of war still on active duty, stepped down Thursday as commander of the Atlantic Fleet’s Naval Air Force. Mobley, 59, turned over command during a ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. He will retire May 1 after 35