Author of The Unlikely War Hero: A Vietnam War POW’s Story of Courage and Resilience in the Hanoi Hilton By Daria Sommers In 1969, when the North Vietnamese decided to release the first American POWs as a propaganda stunt, they chose Doug Hegdahl to be one of them. They called the twenty-one-year old Navy
Dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC,November 13, 1982. (Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund) By Diane Carlson Evans Earlier this year, Vietnam Veteran and former Army Nurse Diane Carlson Evans was honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal. The second highest civilian award, it is given to those who have “performed exemplary deeds
Petty Officer Donn Nemchick, Naval Communications Station, Guam, 1971. (Donn Nemchick) by Donn Nemchick I completed my U.S. Navy enlistment on board the attack aircraft carrier USS Constellation. After completing our final deployment in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of North Vietnam, we were finally under way and headed to our home
By Charlotte Crosswhite The Army Security Agency (ASA) was a unique military experience. Whether you served in small assignments, large field stations, or combat situations, you always had one boot in the Army and the other in the NSA’s door. I wouldn’t call us isolated, but in many ways, we were self-isolating. You don’t
By Larry Hertzberg During the summer after my freshman year of college, I stayed at home, doing little more than hanging out with friends, drinking, shooting pool, and chasing girls. Truth be told, those were the main reasons I had gone to college in the first place. One evening in August 1963, just before
Written by Todd DePastino Retired Navy Captain Bill Dempsey recently recalled to me a horrific fire on September 24, 1965 at a US Navy signals collection site in Kamiseya, Japan, that killed twelve Americans. I'd not heard of the tragedy, but Bill's story and the 60th anniversary of it prompted me to learn more and
