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Former POW and U.S.Air Force CPT Thomas Joseph Barrett (Captured 5 Oct 65). at microphones talks to press and public who were there to greet the returning POWs. On left GEN Robbins, HQ Military Airlift Command, listens. Flanking CPT Barrett are unidentified former POW (left) and U.S. Air Force COL Ronald E. Byrne Jr. (Captured 29 Aug 65). COL Byrne and CPT Barrett were released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73
Former POW and U.S. Air Force MAJ Richard Eugene Bolstad (Captured 6 Nov 65) is greeted on his arrival, via C-141 Starlifter, by GEN Paul Carlton, Commander, Military Airlift Command. LCOL Daniel James Doughty (Captured 2 Apr 67) at the microphones talks to the people who cames out to greet the returning former POWs on their nighttime arrival at Scott. MAJ Bolstad and LCOL Doughty were released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73
Former POW and U.S. Air Force COL Ronald Edweard Byrne Jr. talks to press and well wishes at microphones prior to boarding the C-141 Starlifter for the flight to sthe states. Behind COL Byrne is LGEN William G. Moore, Commander 13th Air Force. COL Byrne was captured on 29 Aug 65 and was released in Hanoi by the North Vietnamese on 12 Feb 73
Former POW and U.S. Army CWO-2 Daniel F. Maslowski (Captured 2 May 70) waves to the public and press who were there to greet the plane load of former POWs flown in from Clark Air Base. In the background MGEN John Gonge, Commander 22nd Air Force and BGEN William Deitrich, 22nd AF Vice Commander greet former POW and U.S. Air Force SMSGT Arthur Cormier (Captured 6 Nov 65). CWO-2 Maslowski and SMSGT Cormier were released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73
Former POW and U.S. Air Force MAJ Richard Eugene Bolstad (Captured 6 Nov 65) at the microphones talks to the people who came out to greet the returning former POWs on their nighttime arrival at Scott. GEN Paul Carlton, Commander, Military Airlift Command looks on. MAJ Bolstad was released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73
William A. Robinson, a STAFF Sergeant and Flight Engineer on a U.S. Air Force HH-43B Huskie at the time, spent seven and a half years as a POW during the Vietnam War, today speaks to the audience about his experiences during a POW/MIA luncheon on Sept. 24, 2004, at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lisa Norman, CIV) (Released)
Returned POWs U.S. Navy CPT Jeremiah Andrew Denton (on left), (Captured 18 Jul 65) make a farewell statement at the microphones as fellow ex-POW Navy CPT James Alfred Mulligan, (Captured 20 Mar 66) and 13th Air Force Commander, LGEN William G. Moore listens. Both Denton and Mulligan were released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73 in Hanoi
Returned POWs U.S. Navy CPT Jeremiah Andrew Denton (on left), (Captured 18 Jul 65) and Navy CPT James Alfred Mulligan, (Captured 20 Mar 66) along with 13th Air Force Commander, LGEN William G. Moore approach the microphones on the flight line for a farewell statement prior to board the C-141 Starlifter for the trip from Clark AB to sthe states. Both Denton and Mulligan were released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73 in Hanoi
Ex-POW and U.S.Navy CMDR James Glenn Pirie (Captured 22 Jun 67), at the flight line microphone, thanks the crowd of well wishers and press before departing for the United States on the C-141 Starlifter in the background. 13th Air Force Commander, LGEN William G. Moore Jr., stands in background near the ambulance bus that brought the ex-POWs to the flight line. CMDR Pirie was released in Hanoi by North Vietnam on 18 Feb 73
Former POW and U.S.Air Force COL Ronald E. Byrne Jr. (Captured 29 Aug 65) at microphones talks to press and public who were there to greet the returning POWs. On left GEN Robbins, HQ Military Airlift Command, listens. Flanking COL Byrne are unidentified former POW (left) and U.S. Air Force CPT Thomas Joseph Barrett (Captured 5 Oct 65). COL Byrne and CPT Barrett were released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73
Summary
The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Subject Operation/Series: HOMECOMING
Base: Scott Air Force Base
State: Illinois (IL)
Country: United States Of America (USA)
Scene Camera Operator: SGT Marvin L. Harris
Release Status: Released to Public
Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
On January 27, 1973, the United States agreed to a ceasefire with North Vietnam allowing withdrawal of American military forces from South Vietnam. The agreement also included the release of about 600 American prisoners of war. On Feb. 12, 1973, three C-141 flew to Hanoi, North Vietnam, and one C-9A aircraft was sent to Saigon, South Vietnam to pick up released prisoners of war. The first flight of 40 U.S. prisoners of war left Hanoi in a C-141A, later known as the "Hanoi Taxi". From February 12 to April 4, there were 54 C-141 missions flying out of Hanoi, bringing the former POWs home, the total number of returned was 591. The return of the nearly 600 POWs increased the polarization of the public and media. A majority of the POWs returned in Operation Homecoming were bomber pilots shot down while carrying out the campaign waged against civilian targets located in Vietnam and Laos. Many viewed the freed POWs as heroes, while others questioned if treating these men as heroes served to distort and obscure the truth about the war. Some felt these men deserved to be treated as war criminals or left in the North Vietnamese prison camps. Many worried that Homecoming hid the fact that people were still fighting and dying on the battlefields of Vietnam and caused the public to forget about the over 50,000 American lives the war had already cost. Veterans of the war had similar thoughts concerning Operation Homecoming with many stating that the ceasefire and returning of prisoners brought zero sense of an ending or closure. Operation Homecoming has been largely forgotten by the American public.