Valor Friday

Triumphant joy on the faces of POWs as they leave Vietnam on a C-141

I’ve been talking in this section a lot lately about Vietnam War POWs, and those who nearly became one. We’re also about two weeks away from the 52nd anniversary of the start of the repatriation of those POWs, so lets take a look back.

In mid-February 1973, after all major American ground troop formations had been removed from Vietnam, and after significant diplomatic wrangling, the release of 591 men being held as prisoner by the North Vietnamese was secured. There were so many men that it took two months worth of C-141 Starlifter flights to get them all back. The prisoners had agreed that they would not accept early parole (except for those sick or injured), and they would only go home in the same order in which they were captured. This was called Operation Homecoming.

The USAF was the most represented with 325 men, the Navy with 138, the Army with 77, and the Marine Corps with 26. There were also 25 civilians who had been DoD employees. The vast majority of those captured were pilots and aircrew, with bomber crews being the bulk of those shot down.

The longest-held prisoner released in 1973 was Army Green Beret Colonel Floyd James Thompson. He spent just a few days under nine years in captivity. He’d been captured in 1963, and briefly escaped in 1971 (for which he received the Silver Star). Navy Commander Everett Alvarez Jr was the second longest, having been captured after his A-4 Skyhawk was shot down after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. For almost a year, he was the only aviator among the prisoners, but those numbers soon increased.

The harsh treatment of American POWs regularly saw the men tortured. Among the more recalcitrant Americans were Vice Admiral James Stockdale (MoH), USAF Brigadier General Robbie Risner (AFC x2), Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton (NC), and USAF Colonel John Dramesi (AFC x2). Risner was kept in solitary confinement for three years and Stockdale for four. Escape attempts were still somewhat regular, despite the repercussions faced upon recapture. Dramesi escaped twice (in 1967 and 1969) briefly, after being originally captured in 1966.

Once the men were freed, the Air Force brought them to Clark AB in the Philippines. They were given proper medical care (for the first time in years), and debriefed. They’d missed pivotal moments in American history like the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy, the moon landing, the race riots, anti-war protests, and even the release of the film The Godfather.

They faced a difficult road ahead for recovery. Physical and mental traumas would haunt them. In some cases they returned home to family that didn’t even know they were alive. For those whose families hadn’t moved on, they came back to children who’d grown up without them.

Despite all the anti-war sentiment of the previous several years, the POWs were welcomed home as heroes. The media bombarded them with questions, and so the military carefully controlled access to keep them from getting overwhelmed.

As part of the welcome home festivities, President Nixon would host the POWs and their families to the largest ever party to be held at the White House. A guest list more than 1,300 names long were entertained under a massive tent on the south lawn. Bob Hope, John Wayne, and Jimmy Stewart were among the celebrities in attendance. Sammy Davis Jr, Irving Berlin, and Vic Damone performed. Dinner was seafood Neptune and beef au-jus. The event was such a spectacle that it was broadcast live on ABC.

The invocation was given by Navy Captain Charles Gillespie (Silver Star), a five-year POW who had become the honorary chaplain of the prisoners. A chorus of 35 POWs then sang the “POW Hymn” which had been composed in the camps.

When Nixon appeared on stage at the “Freedom Banquet”, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation. He gave a toast to the men assembled,

The difficulty tonight is that there are so many honored guests, that we would be drinking all night and into the day,” Nixon said. “I think you would be interested to know the advice I got from senior officers when I asked how the toast should be proposed. To a man, each one of them said, ‘Do not propose a toast to us; we have been toasted and appreciate the great welcome we have received.’

Most of them referred to the missing in action, those who have been killed in action, those who have served in Vietnam, to those serving all day all over the world,” the president continued. “But one group I would like to mention particularly … the brave men who took those B-52s in and did the job.

Bob Hope served as the master of ceremonies, and told the POWs, “Some of you guys were prisoners for so long, some of you missed my shows overseas. So we’re gonna give you the whole works tonight. … Let’s face it, your luck couldn’t hold out forever.”

With such a large list of attendees, you’d think that many politicians would have been among the guests, but it was not a night for them. While there were some in attendance, such as Secretary of State Kissinger, most of the politically connected in Washington were forced to watch at home with everyone else. It was a night for the men and their families who’d sacrificed so much in service to the nation.

Amazingly, only 34 of the returned prisoners were unable to attend the event due to medical issues. The Nixon Library in 2023, for the 50th anniversary of the banquet, invited all living Vietnam POWs to the library for another night of honor. Nixon and his wife Pat had long since passed away, but members of the Nixon family filled in for them. Some of the dignitaries like Kissinger were still alive and in attendance. Of the POWs, about 150 were able to make the trip and be honored once more.

Just a few weeks after Nixon’s massive banquet, the Watergate scandal had the White House and most of America on to the next thing. Operation Homecoming was widely seen as an ending point in American involvement in Vietnam, but there were still many Americans fighting over there. For another two years, Americans served as advisors to our South Vietnamese allies, flew air support missions, and provided naval gunfire support.

Category: Historical, POW, Valor, Vietnam, We Remember