Vietnam POW speaks to 15th Wing senior leaders (Thomas Norris)

The 15th Wing opened Readiness Day, where senior leaders discussed maintaining optimal mission readiness, Aug. 24 here, at Hollister Auditorium, with a speech on individual readiness and resiliency from a former prisoner of war.

Retired Air Force Col. Thomas Norris, then a captain, was shot down Aug. 12, 1967, after dropping bombs on a bridge near the center of Hanoi, Vietnam.

Norris was then captured and transported to a prison camp in Hanoi, where he faced physical and mental cruelty from North Vietnamese soldiers, but found solidarity with other POWs.

Organizing themselves into a military structure, the POWs developed a way to remind themselves of the camaraderie they had in their units before they were captured.

“The military structure helped us take care of each other by giving us something that was familiar,” Norris said. “We used ‘Unity over self’ as our guideline to get through everything as a team. It helped us stay together and survive.”

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

15 Iowa POW’s get medals Duane Vavroch

Fifteen Iowans who were held as prisoners of war will be honored with P-O-W medals in a ceremony this morning in northeast Iowa. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley will present the medals to the veterans or surviving family members in the 9-45 service at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fredericksburg. Grassley says

Read More »

Oklahoma History – Galand Dwight Kramer

Lieutenant Colonel Galand Dwight Kramer was born 5 September 1941 in Wichita, Kansas. He grew up in Kansas and Oklahoma, graduating from Tulsa’s Edison High School in 1959. He is a 1964 graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Petroleum Land Management degree. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant

Read More »