Monument resident, a former Vietnam POW speaks at 50th anniversary of Operation Homecoming (Mike McGrath)

‘We made it:’ Local Vietnam veteran shares his POW story (Wayne Smith)

1,882 days; five and a half years. That’s how long Vietnam veteran Wayne Smith was a prisoner of war. “We were in pretty bad shape, we certainly were,” said Smith. He shared his story with us and dozens of people at Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum. The Air Force captain’s

‘I shouldn’t be alive’: At reunion of Vietnam POWs, one recounts his capture 47 years ago (Keith Lewis)

More than five months in which he had no control over his life, Keith Lewis found a world of virtually unlimited possibilities when he emerged from captivity in early 1973. Keith Lewis, an Air Force veteran from Jasper, Alabama, is greeted as he arrives Tuesday for a ceremony for Vietnam

Randolph County native became Vietnam prisoner of war (Gail Kerns)

It’s been nearly 45 years since Staff Sgt. Gail M. Kerns kissed the ground when he stepped back on United State soil, after surviving 1,439 days as a prisoner of war. Kerns was shot on the left side of his head when he and his fellow American soldiers were ambushed

Tallahassee veteran Dale Doss remembers time as POW with Sen. John McCain

Trapped in the bleak prisoner of war camps of North Vietnam, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Dale Doss remembers the quiet taps he and his fellow prisoner and aviator John McCain sent each other between the cement walls. Doss, a Tallahassee resident, looks back fondly at the bond he shared with McCain, who died Saturday, a day

No good options: Vietnam POW shares story of captivity (John Yuill)

It was the hardest thing Lt. Col. John Yuill had to do after the B-52 Stratofortress he and five crewmembers were flying in over Hanoi, Vietnam, was struck by two surface-to-air missiles on Dec. 22, 1972, during their third mission in four days as part of Linebacker II. It was