This speech by Jim Collins for The Drucker Institute talks about The Stockdale Paradox, which is rooted in the story of Admiral James Stockdale, who was the highest-ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War
“I thought perhaps I was going to die,” McCain told ABC’s Sam Donaldson in a 1999 interview when describing being captured and tortured by the Vietcong.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard “Dog” Brenneman, pilot and Vietnam POW, shares his experience of being captured, kept prisoner and released from the Hanoi Hilton. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John F. Gonge, commander and pilot, shares how the 22d Air Force executed Operation Homecoming in 1973. Kathy Freeberg, daughter of retired U.S. Air Force Col. Alan Leslie Brunstrom, pilot and Vietnam POW, shares stories of her father and his return. Operation
LANCE P. SIJAN IS THE ONLY UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY GRADUATE TO EVER RECEIVE THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR. THIS DOCUMENTARY PORTRAYS THE CAPTAIN’S LIFE, DEPICTS THE PERIOD OF HIS LIFE AFTER EJECTING FROM HIS DAMAGED AIRCRAFT OVER NORTH VIETNAM, AND THE TIME HE SPENT AS A PRISONER OF WAR (POW). DEMONSTRATES HOW HIS FAMILY VALUES INTERSECTED WITH THE AIR FORCE’S CORE VALUES OF “INTEGRITY FIRST, SERVICE BEFORE SELF, AND EXCELLENCE IN ALL WE
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, which officially ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. One local man spent six and a half years in captivity, as a prisoner of war. Naval aviator George Coker returned to America as part of “Operation Homecoming” a half-century ago. He spoke about it today with Mike Gooding.
President Richard M. Nixon hosted 1,300 guests on The White House South Lawn for a celebratory dinner on May 24, 1973.
