This airman was one of only two POWs to survive captivity in World War II and Vietnam (Richard Keirn)

Like a lot of men who turned 18 during World War II, Richard Paul Keirn signed up to do his duty with the U.S. military. His choice was the U.S. Army Reserve in his native Ohio. He joined in November 1942, but within three months, he was accepted to the U.S. Army Air Forces Aviation Cadet Program, a move that would change his life forever. It would also lead to a gallant military career that would steal years from his everyday life. The claim to fame of this airman is being only one of two prisoners of war to survive being taken captive in both World War II and Vietnam.

Despite having joined the war in 1942, it would be almost a year and a half before Keirn, nicknamed “Pop,” would make it to the European Theater. Basic training, pilot training, flight officer school, and fighter classes all had to be finished before he began flying the B-17 Flying Fortress over Nazi-occupied Europe.

The airman had been flying with the 5th Air Force out of England for three months when he was sent on a bombing run over Leipzig in September 1944, his 14th mission over Germany. It would be his last. While over Leipzig, his B-17 took massive amounts of damage and he and his crew were forced to bail out.

Read more

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

Harry L. Ettmueller, SFC, USA

SFC Harry L. Ettmueller, USA, was the Chief Engineer at Hue, 1967-68. He was captured by the North Vietnamese during the TET ’68 offensive on February 5, 1968 and remained a POW until March 5, 1973.I have not been able to find Harry’s obituary, which is what I would normally

Read More »

POW Ben Pollard

Ben Pollard got a lot of mail his last week in prison, as many letters as he’d received in the preceding six years combined: four. – No matter that they dated to 1968, .and this was 1973. ; That sort of conduct “made (the iNorth Vietnamese) wonderful enemies,” said Pollard,

Read More »

Former POW returns for Lemoore visit (Theodore Kopfman)

Fifty-six years after being designated a naval aviator, a former prisoner of war once again landed on the deck of an aircraft carrier — at one of Naval Air Station Lemoore’s F/A-18 Super Hornet flight simulators. “I got it, I got it,” exclaimed Capt. (Ret.) Theodore Kopfman as he sat

Read More »

Avenue Of Heroes Banner Recipient … Captain Render Crayton, USN

In early 1966, while flying a combat mission over North Vietnam, Captain Render Crayton’s A4E Skyhawk was struck by anti-aircraft fire. The plane suffered crippling damage, with a resulting fire and explosion. Unable to maintain flight, Captain Crayton ejected over enemy territory. What happened next, though, demonstrates his character and

Read More »