Posted on 11/10/2007 4:57:47 AM PST by radar101
DELANO -- A career Navy officer who spent nearly seven years in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prisoner-of-war camp in Vietnam died Friday afternoon in a plane crash, his wife said.
Retired Cmdr. Cole Black of Escondido was a passenger aboard a friend's plane -- described by a Federal Aviation Administration official as a six-passenger turboprop Aero Star --- when it went down in an orange grove in a rural area near Delano at about noon.
Black was returning from a speaking engagement in Roseburg, Ore., an annual event where he spent three days telling students about his Naval career and encouraging them to pursue careers in aviation, said his wife Karen Black, a prominent North County attorney.
Cole Black was one of three people aboard the plane, all of whom were killed in the crash, his wife said.
The Kern County Sheriff's Department has not released victims' identities, but Karen Black said the other two were licensed pilots from Roseburg, Ore.
She said one of them was a schoolteacher who had planned to fly the plane home after dropping off Black at the McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad.
Black, 74, grew up on a farm near Lake City, Minn. and was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award at Lake City High School, his wife said. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17, where he spent the next 37 years of his career.
While flying an F8-E fighter jet over a North Vietnamese target in June 1966, Black's plane was shot down by enemy fire. He later told an interviewer he knew he was in trouble when the first person to greet him spoke only two words of English: "Hands up."
Black spent much of the next seven years in a 7-foot by 7-foot cell in Hoa Lo prisoner-of-war camp, popularly known as the "Hanoi Hilton," until winning release in February 1973.
"They liked to put people in irons -- medieval-type punishment," he told a journalist in 1994. "The treatment was very bad."
But thoughts of home, as well as other prisoners whom he described as "the greatest guys in the world," got him through it.
"For me the thoughts of returning to America and to loved ones inspired me throughout my captivity," he wrote in an autobiographical statement. "No one can take away the precious memories of the loved ones you left behind, the joys you knew as a boy, the beauty of the country you will one day return to, and all the kind things your father and mother have done for you."
Once home, Black met his future wife at a Clairemont bar. On their first date they sat on the beach and talked for six straight hours, she said.
"I went to work the next day and told my friends I just met the man I'm going to marry," Karen Black said. "But it took me three years to convince him. He was conservative."
The couple was married for 31 years, the second marriage for each.
After retiring from the Navy, Black dabbled in real estate and was active in the POW community, recently serving four years as president of NAM-POWS, a national organization for ex-Vietnam POWs.
"Everybody described him as one of nicest guys they've ever known," his wife said.
Contact staff writer Dan Simmons at (760) 740-5426 or dsimmons@nctimes.com.
RIP Very sad <><
Very sad news.
You deserve a medal - 8 children! I saw your page.
My husband knows Karen Black. I don’t believe he met Cole.
RIP.
Major prayer for this truly fine citizen-patriot and his family
My father is a Navy veteran of Vietnam. He probably knew Mr. Black ... hard to forget a name like “Cole Black”!
Karen Black authored a book about Cole’s VN experiences. I can’t recall the book’s name.
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