Home > "Operation Homecoming" begins... Vietnam War POWs...
Click image to enlarge 721599
Hide image list »

"Operation Homecoming" begins... Vietnam War POWs...



Item # 721599

February 12, 1973

THE RALEIGH TIMES, N.C. Feb. 12, 1973

* Vietnam War POWs freed in North Vietnam
* "Operation Homecoming" begins - 1st group 
* Viet Cong prison camps release - "Hanoi Taxi"


The front page has a six column heading: "143 American POWs free" with lead-in: "Through tears, 'God bless America'" with two related photos. (see images) 
Complete with all 40+ pages, a few small biding holes along the spine, generally nice.

AI notes: Operation Homecoming, launched on February 12, 1973, was the U.S. mission to repatriate American prisoners of war after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, which formally ended U.S. combat in Vietnam. Over the following two months, 591 POWs were released from North Vietnamese prisons and Viet Cong camps, many of whom had been held for years under harsh and isolated conditions—most notably at the “Hanoi Hilton.” The operation was meticulously planned and involved a series of C-141 Starlifter flights, nicknamed the “Hanoi Taxi,” which transported the men from Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for medical evaluation and debriefing, and then on to the United States, where they received emotional welcomes at Travis Air Force Base and other military facilities. The returnees included several future public figures, such as John McCain, James Stockdale, and Jeremiah Denton, whose televised endurance and later homecomings became symbols of American resilience and sacrifice during the Vietnam War.

Category: The 20th Century