It was a long time coming — too late for some of their comrades in arms — but Vietnam War veterans from Northeast Florida were recognized Saturday for their service to the country during the conflict.
Ronald Michael of Jacksonville, a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant who served in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972, was among about 175 veterans honored during the Vietnam War Veterans Commemoration Pinning Ceremony held at Beaches Veterans Memorial Park.
Navy Lt. Giles Norrington was making his 22nd reconnaissance flight into North Vietnamese territory when communist rebels shot off the right wing of his RA-5C Vigilante. The plane erupted into a fireball. As Norrington and his navigator, Richard Tangeman, tried to escape, Norrington thought, “It’s taking a long time to
“Capt. Terrin D. Hicks was the pilot and Capt. Joseph F. Shanahan the navigator on a reconnaissance version of the Phantom conducting a recon mission over North Vietnam on August 15, 1968. During the mission, the aircraft was shot down and crashed about 5 miles east of the city of
Jay Hess was 14 years into his Air Force service. The fighter pilot, in the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief, was dropping 600 pound bombs in the heavily defended area around Hanoi, in north Vietnam. Hess finished the steep dive, released his bombs and began to pull out when his
He was just a soldier on a bracelet in a basket – Army 1st Lt. John Dunn, who was taken prisoner in 1968. I decided his Irish Dunn was a good match for my Irish Cahill. The Vietnam War was the first time I heard of prisoners of war. Though