Vietnam POWs to be honored 50 years after Nixon celebrated them with historic banquet

It was — and still is — the biggest banquet in White House history.

The dinner was hosted by President Nixon, a brief relief from the unfolding national nightmare of Watergate, and was itself a rare moment of unity during the slow end of a war which had divided the nation. On stage Irving Berlin sang his composition God Bless America, with Nixon and his wife Pat joined by Sammy Davis Jr. and Bob Hope , the MC of the evening.This was the menu for the dinner. An identical menu will be served at the 50th reunion dinner, at tables set with identical centerpieces.Its most famous inmate was John McCain, then the Navy pilot son of the supreme commander in the Pacific, Admiral John McCain Jr., and later the Republican senator from Arizona and presidential candidate.

The 591 POWs had been repatriated through Operation Homecoming, which began after the Paris Peace Accords.But the dinner in Yorba Linda will be a chance to honor the survivors while it is still possible — and reflect on their stories of heroism.“THEY DIED IN MY ARMS.” FLIGHT SURGEON’S HELL IN PRISON CAMP

There, Kushner saw a Life magazine containing a picture of his father playing with his son, Michael — whose existence he had been unaware of. “My wife had been pregnant when I left and we didn’t know it.” His daughter, Toni Jean was 3 and a half when he left and remembered him when he returned, so “resuming a normal relationship was easier.”

Ellis, an F-4C Phantom pilot was shot down on a bombing mission targeting the Ho Chi Minh trail. He was a lieutenant when shot down, and was promoted to captain. Ellis keeps a memento of his freedom, a picture of him and fellow prisoners being released, including John McCain . Ellis believes the support the POWs gave each other helped them to rebound better after they came home.

Held at gunpoint, injured in 17 places, Wallingford was held up by his friend Ed Carlson as they were marched to the camp in Cambodia. But when cobras and vipers crawled near his cage and soldiers killed them, he realized he was being kept alive “as a bargaining chip.”

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