For nearly a year, Kailua resident Emilia Thomas never knew that her husband, a Marine Corps aviation observer, was alive after being shot down in Vietnam and being held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.
“That’s the only thing that still bothers me,” said retired Marine Chief Warrant Officer William Thomas, who was captured on May 19, 1972, a few miles from Quang Tri city. “They never told my family they had me. I was always listed as missing in action.”
To his children, Thomas Van Putten talked little about his service in the Vietnam War and his 13 months as a prisoner. But they knew he was a hero. “We all knew it was a big deal,” said Linda Milley, his daughter. Mr. Van Putten, whose escape from a Viet
The engineered violence U.S. Air Force pilots Ron Mastin and Tom Storey felt ejecting from an F-4 Phantom at 500 miles per hour was more shocking than impact of North Vietnamese ordinance that sent their jet crashing to the ground on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. On Mastin’s 34th aerial reconnaissance
Cambodia re leased today the five United States Navy men who “were captured Feb. 5 when an American gunboat sailed up the Mekong. River into Cam bodian territory, apparently by mistake. Military spokesmen said that the five were turned over to United States Embassy of ficials in Pnompenh and were
U.S. Air Force (Retired) Chaplain Thomas Azar delivered the opening prayer Thursday evening at a ceremony in Shalimar, Fla. to honor American troops captured in the Vietnam War and brought back home 50 years ago. “The Elks, VFW groups, are sponsoring the 50–year anniversary when the U.S. government and the
General Led POWs During Vietnam War Bv Pai’I. Logan Journal Staff Writer Gen. John P. Flynn played an unsung leadership role for U.S. prisoners of war in Hanoi, Vietnam. Flynn, who had many Air Force friends in New Mexico, died Wednesday in San Antonio, Texas. The retired lieutenant general was