It was Nov. 7, 1967 and U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Leon Ellis was co-piloting an F-4C Phantom over North Vietnam when his aircraft was suddenly hit by enemy fire. It exploded into pieces and was quickly tumbling to the ground.
He managed to eject safely, but found himself parachuting into the same enemy territory he was attacking – not a good situation. He was almost immediately surrounded by North Vietnamese soldiers and captured.
Thursday, November 4, 19994House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Benjamin A. Gilman (Chairman of the Committee) Presiding. Chairman Gilman. The Committee will come to order. Members please take their seats.
For US Air Force Col. Raymond J. Merritt, his accommodations in North Vietnam between 1965 and 1973 left a lot to be desired. Merritt, a former fighter pilot, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire in September 1965 and held captive at a number of camps, including the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.”
The exhibit features war memorabilia, photographs, drawings, and documents depicting the lives of the American pilots held in Hoa Lo prison and their desire to end the war and return to their families. Small bells with “Merry Christmas” written on them, Christmas trees and candy on the table… This
Col. Al Brunstrom of the U.S. Air Force, retired, 83, describes how he was shot down in Vietnam in the RF-101 (Voodoo) he was flying, on a scale model of the aircraft, at his home in the Woods and Lakes community near Ocklawaha, Fla. on Tuesday, August 5, 2014. Brunstrom
A retired Air Force pilot from Marietta, who was a prisoner of war in north Vietnam for six years, was back in Hanoi this week, so he could be there on the same day, 50 years ago—March 4, 1973—when he was freed and when his second chance at life began,