Former prisoner of war retired U.S. Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bill Thomas and Mrs. Thomas take a moment to reflect after placing a traditional Hawaiian lei during a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of Operation Homecoming April 4, 2013. In 1973, the last Vietnam conflict prisoner of war landed on Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. (Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth/Released

‘We made it:’ Local Vietnam veteran shares his POW story (Wayne Smith)
1,882 days; five and a half years. That’s how long Vietnam veteran Wayne Smith was a prisoner of war. “We were in pretty bad shape, we certainly were,” said Smith. He shared his story with us and dozens of people at Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum. The Air Force captain’s

