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.”
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
After two nights in the warehouse the three American POWs were moved to a Cambodian Navy bachelor officers’ quarters by the river. Two rooms had been partitioned off on one end of the small building: one room for the officer and one for the enlisted men. Each room had two
U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war ROCHESTER — Those who know Lance Cpl. Fred Elbert describe him as quiet and sincere, but the Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war began his speech at the Vietnam Veterans of America meeting Wednesday with a proud, strong
In 1973, hundreds of American Prisoners of War being held captive in Vietnam finally gained their freedom, boarding planes en route to the United States by way of Travis Air Force Base. On Friday, those veterans were honored for their service and sacrifice during the second and final day of