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  • Brutality and Endurance

     North Vietnam did not treat Americans as prisoners of war. Instead, they justified brutalizing POWs by claiming they were simply outlaws in an "undeclared war." Sixty-five POWs died in captivity, either by execution, torture, injury or disease. Torture was Common North Vietnamese brutally and

  • Return with Honor: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia

    American prisoners of war (POWs) in Southeast Asia endured inhuman torture, political exploitation, filthy living conditions and endless attempts at communist indoctrination. North Vietnam treated U.S. servicemen not as POWs but as foreign invaders and criminals bent on subverting Vietnam's

  • Final Combat: The Mayaguez Incident at Koh Tang

    After South Vietnam fell to communist forces, the U.S. was again involved in combat in Southeast Asia. In May 1975, the Cambodian Khmer Rouge navy seized the American cargo ship SS Mayaguez and its crew of 39 in international waters. President Gerald Ford acted decisively to rescue the crew. The

  • Callsign "Apple 1"

    Before it was converted from an HH-53, the MH-53M (serial number 68-10357) on display took part in the Son Tay Raid -- one of the most famous combat actions of the Southeast Asia War. Flown by Lt. Col. Warner A. Britton under the callsign "Apple 1," it carried the mission's "command element" on the

  • Rescue Attempt: The Son Tay Raid

    In 1970, U.S. forces attempted to rescue POWs from captivity in North Vietnam. American officials decided a daring operation in the heart of North Vietnam was worth the risk, and President Richard Nixon asked the Pentagon to explore "some unconventional rescue ideas." Planning the RaidThe target was

  • Coming Home: The U.S. Exits Southeast Asia

    "Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia."- President Richard Nixon, Jan. 23, 1973The peace agreement signed in Paris in

  • F-111A in Southeast Asia

    At the start of Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965, the U.S. Air Force did not have an all-weather precision fighter-bomber. The highly-advanced F-111A provided this vital capability. Introduced to combat prematurely in 1968, the F-111A later returned triumphantly to play a key role in Linebacker

  • Loss of B-52G "BRASS 02"

    On the night of December 20, 1972, the crew of a B-52G (S/N 57-6481) was flying an Operation Linebacker II mission with the call sign Brass 02. Shortly after releasing its bombs over railroad yards in Hanoi and turning for the long flight back to Guam, the aircraft suffered severe damage from two

  • B-52 Tail Gunners 2 - MiGs 0

    Thirty-one B-52s were lost in Southeast Asia. Eighteen were lost to surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) or ground fire, and the other 13 were non-combat losses. No B-52s were lost to communist aircraft, but during Operation Linebacker II, two B-52D tail gunners, Staff Sgt. Samuel Turner and Airman 1st

  • B-52s and Linebacker II

    Operation Linebacker II was a complex, multi-service operation over North Vietnam in December 1972. The B-52 missions flown during Linebacker II became the best known B-52 operations of the Southeast Asia War. The first Operation Linebacker was the aerial interdiction campaign to halt the flow of