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.
Meritorious Fireside Chat: Barry Bridger, Vietnam POW (January 28, 2021)
Hear from, and about the exciting life of, Lt. Col (Ret.) Barry B. Bridger, a six year survivor of Hoa Loa Prison, who was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over a North Vietnamese city in January of 1967. Ignoring international agreements on treatment of prisoners of war, the enemy resorted to mental and physical cruelties to obtain information, confessions and propaganda materials. Barry Bridger resisted their demands by calling upon his deepest inner strengths
