Richard Bates, POW

On this date in 1973, the Viet Cong released First Lieutenant Richard Bates of the U.S. Air Force. While flying a mission nearly 6 months before, he was shot down over North Vietnam and taken prisoner. Bates was from Plaza, ND, and was 24 when he was captured.

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

Former POW who spent years in captivity offers valuable lessons on overcoming isolation (Joe Crecca)

There is no doubt, being told to stay home for months has many of us feeling stressed, anxious, and incredibly isolated. While mental health experts have offered up advice, we thought it may help to hear from a local man, who likely knows more about social isolation than any of

Lehigh Valley Hero (Robert Biss)

Their code was to return with honor. The inhumane treatment can hardly be understood by most of us. As prisoners of war in Vietnam, it was desperate at times after the torture, but Capt. Robert Biss says he always knew he was coming home.

Vietnam POW is re-awarded medals lost in Harvey flood (Mike Penn)

When Hurricane Harvey’s floodwaters swept away the military medals of retired Navy Capt. Michael Penn, he considered the loss just one among many. “We spent about a week in shock,” said Penn, a Vietnam veteran who survived eight months as prisoner of war. “Not medical shock, but mental shock. We

POW leaves his mark (George McSwain)

Debbie Haney first saw George McSwain when she was five. Haney was watching a 1973 newscast of Operation Homecoming when she saw McSwains face flash across the television screen. She remembers asking her father why the man looked so angry. He told her that McSwain had been a prisoner of

Naval aviator survived 6 years in Hanoi Hilton (Byron Fuller)

Navy pilot Byron Fuller spent almost six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, where his battered body was tortured and starved, where he endured more than two years in solitary confinement in a 4-by-7-foot cell. Upon his release in 1973 from Hoa Lo, a prison camp known