Thomas Collins III would like to clarify one point about his bombing missions in Vietnam, and the more than seven years he spent as a prisoner of war:
It was not a mistake, not a waste, not a failure.
“We needed to stop communism,” says Collins, 74, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel. “It was a good mission. We needed to nip that in the bud, and we did. Actually, Vietnam was successful. We stopped communism.”
Fifty years ago, in early March 1973, Capt. James Patrick Walsh Jr. received a hero’s welcome here. Walsh, an aviator with Attack Squadron 211, Marine Air Group 12, logged an entry on Sept. 26, 1972, that stated it was his 100th takeoff for a bombing run over North Vietnam. There
High above the clouds, Hector Acosta is getting a unique view that most of us don’t get to experience. “It’s a shame,” Acosta said. “If more Americans could experience this, it would be awesome. Although it’s unique, it’s not the first time Acosta has been inside an Air Force jet
Their code was to return with honor. The inhumane treatment can hardly be understood by most of us. As prisoners of war in Vietnam, it was desperate at times after the torture, but Capt. Robert Biss says he always knew he was coming home.
Turning pages of her scrapbook Tuesday, Faye Schierman stopped when she saw a letter dated Sept. 12, 1971. “I pray you had a grand anniversary Faye,” the letter said. The seven-line note had been impeccably handwritten by her husband, Air Force Maj. Wesley Schierman, during nearly eight years as a
Donald E. “Digger” Odell, an Air Force fighter pilot who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years after being shot down in 1967, died Thursday in Michigan. He was 86. “Lt. Col. Odell was an American hero and inspiration to several generation of Airmen,” said Brig. Gen. Rolf