Joe Crecca – North Bend POW imprisoned with McCain recalls when plane was shot down
Major Joe Crecca, a veteran of the Air Force remembers in vivid detail the November day in 1966 when his F-4 was shot down.
Major Joe Crecca, a veteran of the Air Force remembers in vivid detail the November day in 1966 when his F-4 was shot down.
On July 18, 1965, U.S. Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton took off from the aircraft carrier USS Independence leading a 28-plane mission over the city of Thanh Hoa in North Vietnam. Denton’s plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire during the attack, and for the next eight long years, he would battle the North Vietnamese as a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. As the senior American officer at the prison, Denton was forced by
Navy Capt (ret) Mike McGrath shares his account of being a Prisoner of War during the Vietnam War and the resiliency it took to endure the 6 year imprisonment.
Excerpts from an Oct. 20, 2019 interview with Col. Ken Cordier, a former United States Air Force pilot who was an American prisoner of war in North Vietnam for 6 years, 3 months and 2 days during the Vietnam War. This is part of the Robert H. Jackson Center’s Defenders of Freedom project. For further information see www.roberthjacskon.org.
