As a young Air Force public affairs sergeant in 1990, George Hayward learned firsthand accounts of Americans tortured in North Vietnamese prisons and a little-known story of escape. The telling came from retired Col. William Baugh, a civilian public affairs chief Hayward served under at Falcon Air Force Base— now
Air Force Capt. Willis E. Forby was forced to eject from his F105D Thunderchief after being hit by anti-aircraft fire on a bombing mission near Ha Tinh, North Vietnam. Forby’s wingman called for help and the 38th Air Rescue Squadron in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand responded. Helicopter pilot Capt. Thomas Curtis,
Weeks after arriving in Vietnam in 1968, Korean War veteran Sergeant First Class Floyd Wilmoth- who enlisted in the US Army in 1953- stepped aboard the river vessel LCU1577 ‘Sunset Strip’. Days later, Wilmouth and his crew were unwittingly embroiled in an international incident between Cambodia and the United States.
Earlier this year I traveled with 14 students from my AP Human Geography and International Law classes to Atlanta, to attend a luncheon and lecture hosted by the Atlanta Council on International Relations where we had the chance to hear from Vietnam War veteran Colonel John Clark, USAF (Ret.), an American hero.