Meet the Hero: Douglas Hegdahl

50 years later, Operation Homecoming a ‘symbol of the last warriors’ returning from Vietnam (Guarino, McNish)

Operation Homecoming, which freed now-retired Col. Tom McNish and more than 600 prisoners of war from Vietnam 50 years ago this spring, was the best military operation of McNish’s 34-year career. “Due to Operation Homecoming and the totally nourishing environment that it put us in immediately after getting out of

This photo was the start of over 5 years of living hell for POW Pete Schoeffel

You can’t breath because your chest is compressed during the process,” Captain Peter Schoeffel explains. He’s talking about being tortured by the communist North Vietnamese, who were trying to force captured American military personnel to talk. Schoeffel, a retired navy pilot living in Jacksonville, tells about his experience as a

Shot down over Vietnam, ex-POWs reuniting at Randolph (Stuart, Granger)

Maj. John Stuart had a big decision to make after turning his B-52D for an attack run over Hanoi. The bomber had taken some hits from enemy fighters. Surface-to-air missiles now were streaking toward it. The choice: Break off the bombing run and evade, or stay on course. Stuart stayed on course.

Five Vietnam War POWs Honored at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference

The Air & Space Forces Association recognized American prisoners of war during its 2023 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, as part of the association’s ongoing commemoration of the end of the Vietnam War. Of some 170 individuals who appeared on stage throughout the three-day conference in National Harbor, Md., five

The Volunteer State Goes to War: A Salute to Tennessee Veterans (Robert Peel)

The Vietnam War was, essentially, an internal conflict between communist forces in North Vietnam and the pro-western government in South Vietnam. It had begun as a war between colonial French and nationalist Vietnamese armies, but after France’s devastating defeat in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954, the country