For nearly 20 years, former Army Capt. Johnnie Ray remained grateful that Oklahoma had eased his return as a Vietnam prisoner of war by granting free college tuition to his children.
But when he tried to get free tuition at his own alma mater, Oklahoma State University, for his daughter, Pammy, he was turned down.
“They told us that was only for children of prisoners of war who died in Vietnam,” Dorothy Ray said Tuesday from the family’s Wynnewood home.
I arrived at Udorn RTAFB in early May, 1967, to fly A-1E and A1-H Skyraider with the 602nd Fighter Squadron (Commando). I was to fly 247 combat missions during three consecutive tours and participated in the rescue of 18 aircrew members. On May 31, 1968, going for number 19, I
Like a lot of men who turned 18 during World War II, Richard Paul Keirn signed up to do his duty with the U.S. military. His choice was the U.S. Army Reserve in his native Ohio. He joined in November 1942, but within three months, he was accepted to the
A retired Air Force pilot from Marietta, who was a prisoner of war in north Vietnam for six years, was back in Hanoi this week, so he could be there on the same day, 50 years ago—March 4, 1973—when he was freed and when his second chance at life began,
A story of survival, endurance, and overcoming obstacles for your Memorial Day. Lt. Col. Paul Kari spent nearly eight years as a POW after being shot down over North Vietnam. What happened afterward also tested his limits. Kari and I walked the land on his pristine spread in West Liberty.
Told he would never walk again after a car accident left him a quadriplegic at age 15, earning a college degree was the last thing John Deering ever thought he’d care about. Against all odds, the White House resident graduated from Volunteer State Community College Dec. 12, earning a degree