Good job. Thank you for your service to our country. Semper Fi Marine wife/mom nanna of6
BTTT!!!!!!!
BTT Salute.
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Seeing a warhorse that's used to the clouds get glued to the ground like that, I cannot imagine how it feels from his point of view.
General Mechenbier, A grateful citizen salutes you.
Dayton Daily News
01 July 2004
Last Vietnam POW still flying retires
Mechenbier caps Air Force career
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Maj. Gen. Edward J. Mechenbier, who until recently was the last Vietnam-era prisoner of war still flying in the Air Force, officially retired Wednesday.
Mechenbier, 62, of Beavercreek accepted the congratulations of Gen. Gregory S. Martin, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command, and hundreds of well-wishers who gathered in the Modern Flight Hangar at the Air Force Museum to commemorate his 44 years of service.
The hour long ceremony capped a remarkable career that took Mechenbier from the Air Force Academy, from which he graduated in June 1964, to North Vietnam, where he became a prisoner after being shot down in June 1967, and back to the United States.
In 1973, Mechenbier returned stateside as one of the first group of American POWs to be flown in an Air Force C-141 transport in Operation Homecoming.
Mechenbier resigned his commission in 1975 but continued as a reservist, most recently as mobilization assistant to Martin and other commanders within the Materiel Command. He also continued flying in National Guard and Air Force Reserve units, most recently the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson.
Mechenbier recently flew his last mission aboard the same C-141 that spirited him out of southeast Asia. In a mission his fellow wing members arranged, Mechenbier flew the plane dubbed "the Hanoi Taxi" to Hanoi to recover the remains of what were believed to be two missing U.S. servicemen. He capped the mission and his flying career on June 4 with a nine-hour, nonstop flight from Hawaii to Wright-Patterson.
Mechenbier logged more than 3,500 flying hours while in the military.
" 'For the land of the free and the home of the brave.' Think of those words as you watch the news and know that America, and her men and women, are still bringing their dream to others," Mechenbier said, his voice shaking with emotion as he spoke of U.S. soldiers serving overseas.
The 1960 Chaminade High School graduate is corporate vice president of business development for Science Applications International Corp. He said he and wife, Jerri, plan to remain in the Dayton area.
Thanks for the ping Tonk. God bless this great man!!
Yes, this man is a true patriot. Its just too bad there aren't more like him.
I salute this great Patriot; God bless him!
Good job. Thank you for your service to our country. Thanks for the ping, TGYC! Great story.
Thanks for your service, Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier!
Thank God for our heroes and their loved ones!