Jay Hess was 14 years into his Air Force service.
The fighter pilot, in the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief, was dropping 600 pound bombs in the heavily defended area around Hanoi, in north Vietnam. Hess finished the steep dive, released his bombs and began to pull out when his aircraft was hit by enemy fire. With no way out, he pulled the ejection handle.
Among the 200 American Vietnam prisoners of war and their families who recently gathered in the reproduced East Wing at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda were Whitethorn residents Everett and Evelyn King. Everett King was a corporal in an Army intelligence unit stationed at Hue,
Michael Thomas Burns was fulfilling a lifelong dream of flying jets in the Air Force when he was shot down over Vietnam during a combat mission July 5, 1968. Burns was captured and later transferred to the infamous Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp. After spending 1,714 days in captivity,
A former fighter pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam who retired from the Air Force as a major general has died in a crash on Colorado 105. State troopers say William “Bud” Breckner, 74, of Monument, was driving home when he lost control on a curve and slid into
When Lieut. David Matheny drove home for lunch the other day, he saw that his wife’s car was gone. He turned around and left without even going in. Lieutenant Matheny was a prisoner of war in North Viet nam for about six months. Most of that time was spent in
An Army officer said today that he made voluntary statements for the Hanoi radio during the six years that he was a prisoner in Vietnam to let his family know he was alive. Chief Warrant Officer David W. Sooter, 34 years old, Umatilla, Ore., also admitted at a news conference