In the late 1960s, POW/MIA wives bucked government protocol and challenged the traditional role of “military wife.” These courageous women led by Sybil Stockdale on the West Coast, Jane Denton, Louise Mulligan, and Phyllis Galanti on the East Coast and later Helene Knapp in the Interior West organized to form the National League of POW/MIA Families. The women worked with Congress and the Nixon administration to demand accounting for their husbands and pursue their safe
For nearly six years, Colonel Tom Norris was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, now he’s sharing his story.
Vietnam is often called “the war that won’t go away”, largely because of the continuing controversy of the POW/MIA (Prisoners Of War / Missing In Action) issue. Families of those who were POW/MIA in Vietnam organized an activist movement which went on to pursue a question which still haunts America nearly decades later: were soldiers left behind in captivity after the Vietnam War? Once the exclusive domain of a select fraternity of soldiers’ wives, the
Retired Air Force Col. Thomas “Jerry” Curtis was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than seven years, which was longer than well-known POW John McCain’s time in captivity. In a new monthly series “Voices of the Brave,” evening anchor Leslie Draffin shares Curtis’ story of survival and faith.