‘Yankee air pirate!’ — Air Force pilot shot down over Vietnam lived to tell the tale (George Rose)

It’s an indelible image of the Vietnam era: George Alan Rose, then 30, stands on a rain-slicked tarmac. The Air Force fighter pilot has just been released from captivity in North Vietnam. His wife, Becky, wraps her arms around him. Their son, Glen, gazes up at his father and reaches for him.

Rose is 80 now, but that reunion at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on March 31, 1973, captured by an Associated Press photographer, is still fresh in his mind half a century later.

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

Wilkes native Denver Key was POW with Senator McCain

Wilkes County native Wilson Denver “Denny” Key was a prisoner of war in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” in North Vietnam during essentially the same 5½-year period Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday, was held there. McCain, being remembered this week for his bravery and resolve as a POW, was captured

Read More »

John P Flynn’s role as POW during Vietnam War.

General Led POWs During Vietnam War Bv Pai’I. Logan Journal Staff Writer Gen. John P. Flynn played an unsung leadership role for U.S. prisoners of war in Hanoi, Vietnam. Flynn, who had many Air Force friends in New Mexico, died Wednesday in San Antonio, Texas. The retired lieutenant general was

Read More »