Former Vietnam War POW and retired Navy Capt. John Michael “Mike” McGrath visits with cadets Monday while signing George Hayward’s book “The Party Dolls” about the attempted escape of two POWs in 1969. McGrath and Hayward visited the U.S. Air Force Academy to share McGrath’s experiences as a POW and talk about the book on the 50th anniversary of Operation Homecoming, the 1973 return of more than 600 American POW held in Vietnam including the Navy captain.
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
