MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, GUNTER ANNEX AL -- Forty years since America welcomed home
591 Vietnam War prisoners under the Operation Homecoming mission, Gunter's
Enlisted Heritage Research Institute honored their sacrifice and those still
missing. On Feb. 15 a new exhibit focusing on one enlisted man's story of
freedom was unveiled.
Nearly five hundred guests were present, including several former POWs. The unveiling ceremony began with a historical account of retired Capt. William "Bill" Robinson's heroism as a POW at the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy. Next door inside the EHRI, the exhibit presentation and reception concluded the event.
Surviving seven years of imprisonment, Robinson and his team were shot down in their Kaman HH-43 Huskie helicopter during a rescue mission in 1965.
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Colonel Stewart Price, commander of the Barnes Center for Enlisted Education and former POW's retired Col. Wayne Wadell, left and retired Lt. Col William Gaunt, right, helped unveil the Operation Homecoming exhibit at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute, Feb. 15. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Stoltz)
Captured hours later and taken to the infamous Vietnam prison, Hoa Lo Prison, or Hanoi Hilton, Robinson became the longest enlisted POW. He was also the first to earn his battlefield commission through the Officer Training School and the Air Force Cross as a POW using the prisoner's simple tap code. Homecoming brought Capt. Bill Robinson and his fellow POWs home."
Robinson was released with 39 others Feb. 12, 1973, and one of the first to board the USAF C-141 Starlifter transport jet, nicknamed the Hanoi Taxi, waiting to fly them home.
"It was overwhelming," Robinson said when he arrived at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., 40 years ago. He has since then received the Air Force Cross, the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, POW Medal and two Purple Hearts.
The new display designed by EHRI curator, Bill Chivalette, who began research for it in 1985, includes an $8,500 life-like mannequin of Robinson standing at the threshold of his cell with a replicated wooden door open wide to reveal the inside of his prison barracks.
"I'm not sure if we can ever thank them properly," he said. "We certainly can't get them back the years that they lost in captivity, but we hope this display will keep their stories alive." - FMI: Becca Burylo, Air University Public Affairs
Nearly five hundred guests were present, including several former POWs. The unveiling ceremony began with a historical account of retired Capt. William "Bill" Robinson's heroism as a POW at the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy. Next door inside the EHRI, the exhibit presentation and reception concluded the event.
Surviving seven years of imprisonment, Robinson and his team were shot down in their Kaman HH-43 Huskie helicopter during a rescue mission in 1965.
Colonel Stewart Price, commander of the Barnes Center for Enlisted Education and former POW's retired Col. Wayne Wadell, left and retired Lt. Col William Gaunt, right, helped unveil the Operation Homecoming exhibit at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute, Feb. 15. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Stoltz)
Captured hours later and taken to the infamous Vietnam prison, Hoa Lo Prison, or Hanoi Hilton, Robinson became the longest enlisted POW. He was also the first to earn his battlefield commission through the Officer Training School and the Air Force Cross as a POW using the prisoner's simple tap code. Homecoming brought Capt. Bill Robinson and his fellow POWs home."
Robinson was released with 39 others Feb. 12, 1973, and one of the first to board the USAF C-141 Starlifter transport jet, nicknamed the Hanoi Taxi, waiting to fly them home.
"It was overwhelming," Robinson said when he arrived at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., 40 years ago. He has since then received the Air Force Cross, the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, POW Medal and two Purple Hearts.
The new display designed by EHRI curator, Bill Chivalette, who began research for it in 1985, includes an $8,500 life-like mannequin of Robinson standing at the threshold of his cell with a replicated wooden door open wide to reveal the inside of his prison barracks.
"I'm not sure if we can ever thank them properly," he said. "We certainly can't get them back the years that they lost in captivity, but we hope this display will keep their stories alive." - FMI: Becca Burylo, Air University Public Affairs