Kirtland honors POWs, MIA

  • Published
  • By Argen Duncan
  • Nucleus editor

Three hundred twelve Kirtland Air Force Base volunteers carried a POW/MIA flag 140 miles last week to honor the 83,000 military members missing in action since World War II and the hundreds of thousands more taken prisoner of war.

Tech. Sgt. Daniel Key provided the number of flag carriers and distance Friday at a ceremony winding up the observance.

A 24-hour POW/MIA vigil run started the afternoon of Sept. 15 with volunteers taking turns carrying the flag around Hardin Field. The final group took the flag to the New Mexico Veterans Memorial with a motorcycle escort from the Patriot Guard Riders.

During the ceremony at the memorial, 377th Air Base Wing commander Col. Eric Froehlich said POWs uniquely understand their code of conduct.

“May our country always remember their sacrifices and never forget our heroes still missing in action,” Froehlich said.

Three former POWs spoke.

Joseph Gideon, World War II

World War II former POW Joseph Gideon was a tail gunner with an aircrew based in southern Italy.

On his 26th mission on March 12, 1945, bombers were targeting an oil refinery in Austria when they had to fly through a blanket of German anti-aircraft shells.

“I’m surprised we didn’t lose more planes,” Gideon said.

The shells took out two of the plane’s four engines and caused a fuel leak. The crew had to drop out of formation over Hungary, where they encountered more fire.

The plane was flying sufficiently, but the pilot was afraid the artillery would cause an explosion because of fuel fumes. He ordered the crew to bail out.

Gideon said a small crowd of villagers was waiting when they landed. The local sheriff put the Americans in jail, where Gideon eventually began wondering about dinner.

“A 19-year-old boy’s always hungry,” he said.

The crew lived on liverwurst and crackers for a week until they were moved to a POW camp. There, daily rations consisted of a seventh of a loaf of bread and two bowls of broth.

“We didn’t get much news,” Gideon said. “Every day’s pretty much the same.”

On the morning of May 1, no food arrived. Then prisoners noticed the guards were gone.

“And we knew something was up. In just a few minutes, we knew what it was,” he said.

Gideon and the men with him heard tanks and ran to the front gate. Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army had already rolled into the camp to rescue them.

Dan McKinney, Korean War

Dan McKinney, who spent more than two years as a POW, served for three years in World War II and then a family friend “conned me into joining the Reserves.”

During his second stint in the Reserves, the Korean War started and McKinney was called up. He arrived on the front lines in January 1951. McKinney’s unit sustained heavy casualties.

In April, the men spent a day raining artillery on Chinese troops from high ground. However, that evening hundreds of the enemy stormed their position. The Americans used all their ammunition but couldn’t hold the hill.

McKinney had been made a squad leader that day and given eight men as reinforcements. As far as he knows, all eight were killed.

He said he still carries survivor’s guilt, wondering why he lived and they died.

“I have no answer,” he said.

McKinney was captured the next morning, the day he and his fiancé had planned to marry.

He was one of 1,200 POWs forced to march for about two months to a camp near the Korean-Chinese border. On the way, 450 died.

At 24 years old, McKinney was one of the oldest Americans. Many others were 16 or 17, he said.

Prisoners received little to eat, mainly rice.

One man wouldn’t eat it, saying all he could think of was chocolate cake. Despite McKinney urging him to eat, the man died that September, his 6-foot-plus frame having dwindled to 60 pounds.

McKinney pushed for better conditions, but his captors locked him in a more-secluded area for 75 days.

He was released in August 1953 as part of a prisoner exchange.

Although he missed his original wedding date, he has now been married for almost 63 years.

Aubrey Nichols, Vietnam War

Former Vietnam War POW Aubrey Nichols, who spent 324 days in Hoa Lo prison, was shot down in an A-7 Corsair II attack jet in 1972.

After ejecting, he realized the enemy was firing at him, albeit with such poor aim that he wasn’t hit.

When Nichols landed, two men were waiting with machine guns. He radioed his wingman still in the air to say he was OK and would see the other man after the war.

The North Vietnamese took him to Hoa Lo prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.

By that point, the heavy torture had stopped. Nichols’ captors quizzed him, and he told them he didn’t remember the information and wouldn’t write an anti-war statement.

“What I remember from the Hanoi Hilton was the hours of boredom,” he said.

Most of the time, there was nothing to do but talk. The North Vietnamese news, mainly propaganda, came on in the evenings, and prisoners learned French.

At times, a man would recite a movie to the group.

“No visuals, but it helped pass the time,” Nichols said.

Rations were pumpkin broth.

In October 1972, POWs learned from new prisoners that peace talks had started. Soon they heard B-52 Stratofortresses bombing the area and saw the guards’ fear.

“We cheered every night the B-52s bombed,” Nichols said.

In December, POWs learned they would be released.

In late March 1973, Nichols received a new set of clothes and after an overnight delay, left on the second-to-last flight out of the Hanoi Hilton back home.