U.S. Air Force Capt. William R. Austin II and his aircraft commander, Maj. Ivan D. Appleby, had out-maneuvered certain death hundreds of times before they got hit. A fighter pilot with the storied “Triple Nickle” 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Austin had flown 80 combat missions over North Vietnam in the powerful F-4 Phantom II, despite the enemy’s relentless attempts to make each a one-way trip. By the time he landed his 80th mission in the fall of 1967, he’d earned a Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 10 Air Medals.
Looking Back: Vietnam War POW returns home in 1973 (Charles Greene)
Fifty years ago this week, returning Vietnam War released prisoner of war, Air Force Maj. Charles E. Greene Jr. of Schenectady, alighted a C-9 Nightingale at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Mass. and embraced his wife, Sandra, and 10-year-old daughter Kim, who had been escorted to the plane’s ramp.
