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

Shot down over Vietnam: POWs share memories 50 years later (Hayden Lockhart, Everett Alvarez)
This weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the fateful day the first U.S. troops went ashore in South Vietnam. But by then U.S. aircraft had already been bombing North Vietnam for seven months and downed American pilots had fallen into a hell that would last for the rest of the


