Page 19 - DFCS NEWS MAGAZINE 2020-1

USAF F-16 Falcon
Once in Baghdad, he was interrogated, beaten again, and put into solitary confinement. At some point he was moved to a different facility with several other POWs. Little did he know that this facility was on the US target list and one night several bombs were walked along the building. The POWs were lucky because they were at the end of the building where the last bomb hit. Although blown around, they were not killed.
Once the dust cleared, the POWs began calling their names to see who was alive. There was a call “Bob, CBS News”. Tico thought that they were being rescued, but Bob replied: “we are POWs too”.
Tico was a POW for 46 days, lost 20 pounds and was never given a change of clothes. Imagine, wearing the same pair of underwear for 46 days.
Tico was then joined on the dais by the four other POWs who told of their experiences and answered questions.
Bob Barnett
Bob Barnett was held captive the longest of these POWs. He was on his 43rd mission, leading a flight of four F-105s against a target north of Hanoi when his plane was hit by a SAM on the 3rd of October 1967. He would be a POW for over 5 1⁄2 years.
He flew his F-105 towards the coast before the engine seized and he had to eject near Haiphong Harbor. He did not know it at the time, but the ejection and landing in trees fractured his lower back.
He evaded capture for three days as the Navy made several attempts to rescue him by a helicopter. He was finally tracked down by a dog and started his extended stay in North Vietnam.
Like the other POWs he was tortured and beaten day after day. He was initially taken to the “Hanoi Hilton”, but was moved around to the “Zoo” south of Hanoi and the “Dog Patch”.
His final days in North Vietnam were spent at the “Plantation” in downtown Hanoi. On the 14th of March 1973, he was released.
Myron Donald
First Lieutenant Myron Donald was in the back seat of an F-4 on his 73rd mission when his aircraft was hit by an air- to-air missile fired from a MIG-21 while attacking a
target near Hanoi. He ejected near Haiphong and
was parachuting into a rice paddy when captured.
He, like Bob Barnett, was taken initially to the “Hanoi Hilton”, but was moved around to many other POW camps during his capture.
He said that the humor of the POWs drove his captors crazy but it was one of the things that kept him going even though he spent much of the time in irons receiving hash treatment. He was a POW for over 5 years.
USAF F-105 Thunderchief
USAF F-4 Phantom
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