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JBSA News
NEWS | Feb. 24, 2016

Former POWs to speak at Freedom Flyer symposium March 4

Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Public Affairs

More than 30 former prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict will reunite for the 43rd time March 4 at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph during the annual Freedom Flyer Reunion.

 

The reunion, hosted by the "Chargin' Cheetahs" of the 560th Flying Training Squadron, honors those who made it home from Southeast Asia while continuing to remember those who did not.

 

One of the major highlights of the reunion is a symposium, set to begin at 1 p.m. in the Fleenor Auditorium, featuring former Freedom Flyers who will tell the stories of their time in captivity. 

 

The Freedom Flyer program was born in 1973 when the 560th FTS began retraining former POWs to fly again in the Air Force.  Later, the squadron provided POW pilots who had not been retrained to fly one last time, ensuring that their last flight in an Air Force aircraft wouldn't be the flight on which they were shot down and captured.  

 

The first flight with POWs was called a “Freedom Flight.” The repatriated POWs and pilots were met with cheers and champagne as they celebrated their return to the “wild blue yonder.”

 

Covering the last 37 years, the “Chargin’ Cheetahs” have helped 195 former POWs return to the skies on a Freedom Flight.

 

According to Air Force records, there are still 511 Air Force service members missing and unaccounted for from the conflict in Southeast Asia.

 

Events open to JBSA members include:

 

10:15 a.m. – Wreath-laying ceremony at the Missing Man Monument.   The ceremony pays tribute to POWs and those listed as missing in action who did not return home from war and will include a fly-over.

 

1 to 4 p.m. – Freedom Flyer Symposium, Fleenor Auditorium (building 100).  Former POW’s tell their remarkable stories of survival and hope while imprisoned in the infamous POW camps of North Vietnam.

 

Former Freedom Flyers will also take part in a formal dining-in ceremony as part of the reunion.