USAF Lt. Col.(Ret.) Tim Ayres was born in 1945 in Los Angeles, California. He received his commission through the U.S. Air Force Academy on Jun 5, 1968, and completed pilot training in June 1969. Lt Ayres was then trained as an O-2A Milirole Forward Air Controller and was assigned to Quang Ngai, South Vietnam the same year. After a one-year tour as a Forward Air Controller, he trained in the F-4 Phantom II and was assigned to Ubon Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, for another one-year tour in Southeast Asia. During his second tour, he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on May 3, 1972. After spending 329 days in captivity, Capt Ayres was released during Operation Homecoming on March 28, 1973. He returned to flying the F-4, and later completed a tour as a Navy exchange pilot at NAS Miramar, California. He left active duty and went into the Air Force Reserve in 1978, and began flying as a commercial airline pilot with Continental Airlines. Tim later flew at People Express and finally with Southwest Airlines in 1987, retiring on January 1, 2005. Col Ayres also retired from the Air Force Reserve in 1995. Tim and his wife Sharon live in Texas and have two daughters, Natasha and Tiffany.
BEYOND COURAGE – Surviving Vietnam as a P.O.W.
The Vietnam War lasted almost 20 years. It was the first war the U.S. had lost. However, the return home of the Prisoners-of-War was widely celebrated. They were held captive for almost nine years, the longest of any American war. Those pilots who survived shootdown were held in secluded prisons, hidden from the outside world except for occasional propaganda films.In 1992 I received permission from the Vietnam government to return to Hanoi and the prison
