Navy Pilot Chronicles his POW Experiences (Jack Ensch)

August 25, 1972 dawned hot and muggy in Vietnam. Pilots of Fighter Squadron 161, stationed aboard USS Midway (CV 41), readied their aircraft and went over the day’s flight plan. Their mission was an early evening MiG combat air patrol over North Vietnam. Lt. John “Jack” Ensch would serve as a radar intercept officer in an F-4B Phantom.

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Former POW shares story with NCOA (Melvin Pollack)

“I may be older, but I’m a fighter pilot,” he said, smiling, as he shared his story of perseverance before a crowd of Kisling NCO Academy students, Sept. 12, 2016. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Melvin Pollack, Vietnam War veteran, was flying his 78th mission when he was shot down

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Remembering Ed Carlson, Vietnam POW

Since last Veteran’s Day, Ken Burns’ in-depth documentary on the Vietnam War has aired. It is a powerful reminder of an unpopular war in which many “baby boomers” fought and died. It also prompts memories of the brutal treatment of American POWs and 1,350 who were listed as missing in

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And with honor I return (Ronald Webb)

The bombing started on Dec. 18, 1972 and lasted 11 days. Waves of B-52s dropped 20,000 tons of ordnance on and near the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and the port city of Haiphong. For the nearly 600 American POWs held by the North Vietnamese, the destruction wreaked by Operation

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William Butler, veteran and volunteer, dies

William Butler was an Air Force captain who spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam – some of it in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” – before returning home to Calistoga to become a veterinarian who dedicated his life to helping fellow veterans and others in need.

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