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.
Prior to his POW experience, Robert Shumaker had other memorable moments in the service. During one mission in the Mediterranean, multiple mechanical malfunctions forced him to freefall 2,000 feet before he could open his parachute. He was also one of the top 32 candidates for NASA’s Apollo program during the
The New York Times has reviewed the public comments of nearly 100 returned men and interviewed several dozen in depth. The “battle of Hanoi” as one prisoner called it, emerges as a complex and fascinating story of men under extreme stress. The tales of torture seem genuine, but physical brutality
Ted Sienicki was an Air Force Weapon Systems Officer in May 1972, when his F-4 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he was forced to eject over North Vietnam. He spent 11 months as a prisoner of war. This weekend he will be in Hudson, Massachusetts, where the American Heritage Museum is
He served his country proudly in Korea and Vietnam as a pilot in the US Navy. In 1967, at the age of 38, Captain Mel Moore was shot down over Vietnam. He spent 2,185 days in confinement at the notorious Hanoi Hilton — one week shy of six years. He
As the first group of returning prisoners arrived on the American mainland here this week, a sketchy picture began to emerge of their years in captivity and their plans. They came home feeling pride, gratitude and a deep need to believe that the years torn out of their lives were