Smitty, 2019
I wish I had the time and space to tell all the stories of brotherhood that I’ve had the great honor to experience in the forty-six years since my captivity ended. I have been blessed indeed with strong friendships that few have ever experienced. Truly, if anyone is allowed one or two of these types of friends over a lifetime, they should consider themselves blessed. I, however, have had an abundance of such friends. Of the roughly 660 men who were released with me, about 230 of them have passed away, or as we like to say, “They have flown west.”
Now, more than four hundred form our current brotherhood, and we have a bond with each and every one, resulting from our POW experience and the shared pride of coming home with honor. Though the list will certainly be incomplete, the names below are just the ones I call my closest friends because they had been my cellmates as POWs, or I have gotten to know them and their families very well at our many reunions—roughly two per year—during the last forty-five years.
Of the ninety-two names on this list, there are twenty-eight, marked by an asterisk, who have “flown west.”
Ray Alcorn
Ev Alvarez Jr.
Bill Arcuri
Mo Baker
Bob Barnett
Bill Baugh*
Jim Bell*
Red Berg
Dick Bolstad*
John Borling
Chuck Boyd
Mike Brazelton
Al Brudno*
Al Brunstrom
Herb Buchanan
Bill Burroughs*
Bill Butler*
Ron Byrne
Fred Cherry*
Larry Chesley
John Clark
Doug Clower*
Tom Collins
Ken Cordier
Render Crayton
Mike Cronin
Tom Curtis
Max Dat Nguyen
Bud Day*
Myron Donald
Bob Doremus
Jerry Driscoll*
Dick Dutton*
Bill Elander
Lee Ellis
John Fer
Ken Fisher
Ken Fleenor*
Fred Flom
Will Forby
Dave Ford*
Ralph Gaither*
Paul Galanti
Dan Glenn
Wayne Goodermote
Dave Gray
Larry Guarino*
George Hall*
Tom Hanton
Dave Hatcher*
John Heilig
Roger Ingvalson*
Gobel James
Julius Jayroe
Bob Jeffrey
Jay Jensen*
Sam Johnson
Paul Kari
Pop Keirn*
Denver Key
Jim Lamar
Laurie Lengyel
Hayden Lockhart
Tom Madison*
Ron Mastin
Mike McGrath
J. B. McKamey*
Ray Merritt*
Tom Moe
Scotty Morgan
Bob Naughton
Bob Peel
John Pitchford*
Bob Purcell*
Jim Ray
Jon Reynolds
Robbie Risner*
Wes Schierman*
Bruce Seeber
Bob Shumaker
Gene Smith
John Stavast*
Bob Stirm
Ron Storz*
Leroy Stutz
Dwight Sullivan
Orson Swindle
Dave Terrell*
Jack Van Loan
Dick Vogel
Wayne Waddell
Jim Young*
John Yuill