Robert “Bob” Jeffrey was born in 1939 in Los Angeles, California. After attaining Eagle Scout, he graduated from Northrop Institute of Technology, and then entered the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Air Force on January 25, 1960. Jeffrey was commissioned a 2d Lt and awarded his pilot wings at Reese AFB, Texas, on May 12, 1961, and then completed F-102 upgrade training at Perrin AFB, Texas. His first assignment was as an F-102 Delta
Although the Vietnam conflict lasted for 20 years – from 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in 1975 – the United States government never officially declared war. Over 3 million people perished in the conflict, and hundreds of American and Vietnamese citizens were held in prison camps as unofficial POWs. The North Vietnamese captured American troops and the South Vietnamese held hundreds of North Vietnamese soldiers. These POWs were treated in different but perhaps equally
Lt. Col Barry Bridger presents his incredible story of how he and other Prisoners of War were treated and how they survived. Barry spent 6 years at the Hanoi Hilton. This presentation was made possible by Trust Vets, First Command Financial Services and hosted at Rasmussen College, Blaine MN.
Retired Air Force Col. Robert Certain, a B-52 navigator and former prisoner of war, worked with MOAA to organize a trip back to Vietnam to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Operation Homecoming and the return of more than 600 POWs from North Vietnam. Seven former POWs as well as family and friends joined Certain to see southern Vietnam and Cambodia and return to Hanoi to see what remains of the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison.
Jeff’s guest is Captain Allen Brady, author of “Witnessing the American Century: Via Berlin, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam and the Straits of Florida”, a US Naval Aviator’s odyssey through pivotal moments in 20th-century history. As a youngster, Captain Brady watched the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. As a pilot, the Naval Academy graduate was shot down over North Vietnam and spent six years as POW. The rise of Adolf Hitler, America’s Great Depression in the heartland, the
