The Air Force in the Vietnam War - Air Force Association

POW and MIA
T
housands of Americans were missing
in action in the Vietnam War. Of
these, a total of 771 were known to have
been captured by the enemy. Most of
them were Air Force and Navy airmen,
shot down over North Vietnam and held
in the “Hanoi Hilton” and other prisons,
where they were tortured and routinely
mistreated.
The POWs and MIAs got little public
attention in the United States, though,
until October 1969, when the cover story
in the Air Force Association’s Air Force
Magazine, “The Forgotten Americans
of the Vietnam War,” ignited national
concern. The article was reprinted in
condensed form by Reader’s Digest and
inserted in the Congressional Record six
different times.
Some of the POWs were released before
the end of the war. Another 113
of them died in captivity. Eventually
658 of the 771 would be returned to the
United States.
In Operation Homecoming, which
began Feb 12, 1973, Air Force airlifters
brought 591 POWs out of North
Vietnam. The majority of those released—325
of them—were Air Force
members, and 138 were Navy. The ex-
POWs were processed through Clark
Air Base in the Philippines and taken to
military hospitals in the United States,
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from where they were quickly reunited
with their families.
POWs have always been held in special
regard by the Air Force Association,
and those missing in action and not accounted
for are not forgotten.
Badly injured after his Misty FAC
F-100F was shot down over North
Vietnam Aug. 26, 1967, Maj.
George E. “Bud” Day was captured
and tortured. He managed to escape,
and reach the Demilitarized Zone. He
tried to signal US aircraft, but was
ambushed, recaptured, and imprisoned
in Hanoi, where he continued to offer
maximum resistance to his captors until
released in 1973. He was awarded
the Medal of Honor.
On a flight over Laos Nov. 9, 1967,
Capt. Lance P. Sijan ejected from
his disabled F-4C. Although severely
injured, he successfully evaded capture
for more than six weeks. Caught,
he managed to escape again, but was
recaptured and tortured. While a
POW, he contracted pneumonia and
died. He was awarded the Medal of
Honor.