“The Cookie Caper” In Honor of Col Robert B. “Percy” Purcell, Prisoner
of War: North Vietnam (July 1965 – February 1973)

Looking back to when Laurel welcomed home first Southeast Asia POW (Lawrence Bailey)
The specially modified, intelligence-gathering C-47 plane lifted off from Vientiane, the capital of Laos, March 23, 1961, and headed north toward Xieng Khouangville, a Communist-held area. The experienced Air Force crew was accompanied by Army Maj. Lawrence R. Bailey, a Laurel resident serving as the assistant Army attache in Vientiane.


