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Viet Cong POWs sit on the ramp at Tan Son Nhut Air Base under the watchful eyes of South Vietnamese military police. The POWs will be airlifted to Loc Ninh, South Vietnam for the prisoner exchange between the United States/South Vietnam and North Vietnam/Viet Cong militaries

Viet Cong POWs sit on the ramp at Tan Son Nhut Air Base under the watchful eyes of South Vietnamese military police. The POWs were brought to the airbase in the 6X6 trucks in the background and will be airlifted to Loc Ninh, South Vietnam on the C-123 transport aircraft for the prisoner exchange between the United States/South Vietnam and North Vietnam/Viet Cong militaries

Viet Cong POWs, one with a Viet Cong flag, stand and sit at the exchange location. They were flown in on USAF C-130 aircraft from Bien Hoa Air Base. They will be exchanged for American and South Vietnamese POWs held by the Viet Cong forces

Viet Cong POWs, one with a Viet Cong flag, stand and sit at the exchange location. They were flown in on USAF C-130 aircraft from Bien Hoa Air Base. They will be exchanged for American and South Vietnamese POWs held by the Viet Cong forces

Viet Cong POWs, with caps and towels to protect from the sun, sit at the exchange location. They were flown in on USAF C-130 aircraft from Bien Hoa Air Base. They will be exchanged for American and South Vietnamese POWs held by the Viet Cong forces

Viet Cong POWs stand and sit at the exchange location. They were flown in on USAF C-130 aircraft from Bien Hoa Air Base. They will be exchanged for American and South Vietnamese POWs held by the Viet Cong forces

Viet Cong POWs stand in formation, two of their members carry the Viet Cong flag, after being flown in from Bien Hoa. They will be exchanged for American and South Vietnamese POWs held by the Viet Cong forces

A line of returned POWs from Viet Cong and North Vietnamese prisons walk from buses to the waiting C-141 Starlifter for the trip to the states. After their release they were flown to Clark AB hospital for medical checkups

Viet Cong soldiers carry a litter with injured American POW, CPT David Earle Baker, (Captured 27 June 72) from the hospital tent to the release point. American and South Vietnamese prisoners were exchanged for Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese (NVA) prisoners

Viet Cong POWs, some on crutches, under the watchful eyes of South Vietnamese military police walk to the waiting C-123 transport aircraft. The POWS will be airlifted to Loc Ninh, South Vietnam for the prisoner exchange between the United States/South Vietnam and North Vietnam/Viet Cong militaries

description

Summary

The original finding aid described this photograph as:

Subject Operation/Series: HOMECOMING

Base: Saigon

Country: South Vietnam

Scene Camera Operator: SSGT Herman Kokojan

Release Status: Released to Public

Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files

On January 27, 1973, the United States agreed to a ceasefire with North Vietnam allowing withdrawal of American military forces from South Vietnam. The agreement also included the release of about 600 American prisoners of war. On Feb. 12, 1973, three C-141 flew to Hanoi, North Vietnam, and one C-9A aircraft was sent to Saigon, South Vietnam to pick up released prisoners of war. The first flight of 40 U.S. prisoners of war left Hanoi in a C-141A, later known as the "Hanoi Taxi". From February 12 to April 4, there were 54 C-141 missions flying out of Hanoi, bringing the former POWs home, the total number of returned was 591. The return of the nearly 600 POWs increased the polarization of the public and media. A majority of the POWs returned in Operation Homecoming were bomber pilots shot down while carrying out the campaign waged against civilian targets located in Vietnam and Laos. Many viewed the freed POWs as heroes, while others questioned if treating these men as heroes served to distort and obscure the truth about the war. Some felt these men deserved to be treated as war criminals or left in the North Vietnamese prison camps. Many worried that Homecoming hid the fact that people were still fighting and dying on the battlefields of Vietnam and caused the public to forget about the over 50,000 American lives the war had already cost. Veterans of the war had similar thoughts concerning Operation Homecoming with many stating that the ceasefire and returning of prisoners brought zero sense of an ending or closure. Operation Homecoming has been largely forgotten by the American public.

label_outline

Tags

pows viet cong pows crutches eyes police transport aircraft transport aircraft loc ninh loc ninh south vietnam prisoner exchange prisoner exchange militaries military police vietnam war viet cong loc ninh prisoner exchange coming home prisoners of war exchange prisoners pow staff sergeant operation homecoming hanoi taxi images of eyes prisoners exchange commission vietcong hanoi high resolution viet cong militaries south vietnamese north vietnam c 123 transport aircraft ssgt herman kokojan aviation military aircraft us national archives vietnam pow
date_range

Date

12/02/1973
collections

in collections

Hanoi Taxi

Operation Homecoming
place

Location

create

Source

The U.S. National Archives
link

Link

https://catalog.archives.gov/
copyright

Copyright info

No known copyright restrictions

label_outline Explore Viet Cong Pows, Ninh, Crutches

A hand-sketched illustration by Artist: Michael Humphries. US Air Force Collection. Artwork:"Night Approach, Bien Hoa, South Vietnam"

Members of an all service color guard display the colors as the remains of 27 service members missing in action are carried from a C-141B Starlifter aircraft in the largest turnover of MIAs since meetings began with North Vietnam in 1981

LCOL Daniel James Doughty (Captured 2 Apr 67) at the microphones talks to people who came out to greet the returning POWs on their nighttime arrival at Scott. LCOL Doughty was released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73

American Red Cross - Christmas Activities - Leon Sturgeon of Los Angeles, the American soldier on crutches tells some of the village children about the wonderful children of America, - that is the story the Dartford children like the best. On the lawn of the American Base Hospital at Dartford, near London. The Red Cross woman is Mrs. Arthur Robinson of Baltimore

Former POW and U.S. Air Force LCOL Lewis Wiley Shattuck (Captured 11 Jul 66) salutes the American Flag upon his arrival on the C-141 Starlifter from Clark Air Base, Philippines. In the background MGEN John Gonge, 22nd Air Force Commander and MGEN Daniel "Chappie" James await the next returnee to deplane. LCOL Shattuck was in the first group of POWs released on 12 Feb 73 by the North Vietnamese government in Hanoi

U.S. Navy Quartermaster SEAMAN Daniel Sullivan (left) and Quartermaster SEAMAN Shawn Canfield (right) properly fold the American Flag (National Standard) after flying it from the mast aboard the Kitty Hawk Class Aircraft Carrier USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63) on Dec. 20, 2006, to honor the 41st anniversary of the death of U.S Navy CAPT. Guy David Johnson. This flag covered CAPT. Johnson's casket during his funeral and was sent by his family to the KITTY HAWK to be flown for this anniversary date. CAPT. Johnson (a pilot) and LT. CMDR. Lee Edward Nordahl (a navigator) were both shot down and killed on Dec. 20, 1965, while flying a naissance mission over North Vietnam in an RA-5C Vigilante...

Photograph of Specialist 4th Class McClanton Miller Kneeling in Dense Brush Waiting for Orders to Move Forward

Former POW and U.S. Air Force LCOL James Quincy Collins Jr. talks with escorts and other POWs in the passenger lounge after his arrival from Clark Air Base, Philippines. LCOL Collins was captured on 2 Sep 65 and released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi on 12 Feb 73

Photograph of Staff Sergeant Hugh L. Maple Playing with a Vietnamese Child

The U.S. Navy Band marches toward the burial site at Arlington National Cemetery during the funeral services for LCDR James T. Ruffin. Ruffin was listed as missing-in-action after failing to return from flying a mission off the coast of North Vietnam on Feb. 18, 1966

Ex-POW and U.S. Air Force MAJ Hubert K. Flesher (Captured 2 Dec 66) shakes hands with 13th Air Force Commander, LGEN William G. Moore Jr., after arriving on bus, in background, and prior to his flight to the United States. COL John W. Ord, Commander, Clark Hospital and COL Raymond G. Lawry, Deputy Site Commander, Joint Homecoming Reception Center are in the background. MAJ Flesher was released in Hanoi by North Vietnam on 18 Feb 73

Navy Reserve Cmdr. James B. Mills, killed during the

Topics

pows viet cong pows crutches eyes police transport aircraft transport aircraft loc ninh loc ninh south vietnam prisoner exchange prisoner exchange militaries military police vietnam war viet cong loc ninh prisoner exchange coming home prisoners of war exchange prisoners pow staff sergeant operation homecoming hanoi taxi images of eyes prisoners exchange commission vietcong hanoi high resolution viet cong militaries south vietnamese north vietnam c 123 transport aircraft ssgt herman kokojan aviation military aircraft us national archives vietnam pow