True Life: The man on the POW bracelet (John Dunn)

I’ll Always Be There (Dennis Thompson)

It’s been nearly 50 years since Dennis Thompson was captured by North Vietnamese forces as a prisoner of war. But he still sees the black enclosed room with no light where they kept him. For five years — he counted 1,864 days — the Vietnamese imprisoned him, 850 days of

Former POW shares story with NCOA (Melvin Pollack)

“I may be older, but I’m a fighter pilot,” he said, smiling, as he shared his story of perseverance before a crowd of Kisling NCO Academy students, Sept. 12, 2016. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Melvin Pollack, Vietnam War veteran, was flying his 78th mission when he was shot down

Remembering Sgt. Don MacPhail

For over a decade I wore a POW bracelet in Sgt. Don MacPhail’s honor and memory. This is the story of Sgt. Don MacPhail and our unique history in pictures, words, video links and newspaper files. For my 16th birthday on August 16, 1971, Irene Pfeffer gave me the bracelet

‘A Victory,’ Nestande Says : Edison Miller Libel Suit Dismissed After 5 Years

After nearly five years of pretrial wrangling, an Orange County judge on Wednesday dismissed former Supervisor Edison W. Miller’s libel suit against his 1980 campaign foe, current Supervisor Bruce Nestande, and 29 former Vietnam prisoners of war. Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan ruled that Miller, accused of collaborating with

The P.O.W.’s Show Pride and Gratitude (Shankel, Risner, Brunstrom)

As the first group of returning prisoners arrived on the American mainland here this week, a sketchy picture began to emerge of their years in captivity and their plans. They came home feeling pride, gratitude and a deep need to believe that the years torn out of their lives were