The Tiger from the sky (William Austin)

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.

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1,903 Days as a POW (Daniel Pitzer, Rowe, Versace)

In the early morning hours of 29 October 1963, at Tan Phu village in southernmost Vietnam, then-First Lieutenant (1LT) James N. ‘Nick’ Rowe, the Assistant Detachment Commander, Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 23, prepared for a ‘routine’ combat patrol. Rowe, Senior Special Forces (SF) Medic Master Sergeant Daniel L. Pitzer,

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LIVING LEGENDS OF ALEXANDRIA (Eugene McDaniel)

The word “hero” is used far too often. So is the word “courage.” In the case of Capt. Eugene “Red” McDaniel, neither word accurately describes the horrors he endured as one of the most brutalized prisoners of war in Vietnam. When his A-6 Intruder aircraft was shot down over North

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