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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Vietnam POW shares lessons in resiliency & leadership (Leon Ellis)

It was Nov. 7, 1967 and U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Leon Ellis was co-piloting an F-4C Phantom over North Vietnam when his aircraft was suddenly hit by enemy fire. It exploded into pieces and was quickly tumbling to the ground. He managed to eject safely, but found himself parachuting

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“They stripped me of everything I had.” So began Charlie Crafts’ 26-month odyssey as a prisoner of war in the jungles of Vietnam. Crafts, who now lives in Livermore, consented to a rare interview on his experience as Maine’s first Vietnam POW, and the only one to be imprisoned in

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