Vietnam Veteran Recalls Bringing POWs Home

Vietnam Veteran Recalls Bringing POWs Home

(EXCERPT) By JON SOLES Of The Record Staff

Harold Jernigan holds up a plaque awarded him for his part in a
mission to transport Vietnam prisoners of war back to friendly soil.
At right is a plaque with the insignia of his Air Force Unit. Inset
photo: Harold Jernigan while serving in the Air Force Daily Record
Photo/Jon Soles

With hundreds of thousands of American troops dispatched to the Middle
East, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, many people are reflecting on
servicemen and women who are away from home.

Harold Jernigan has been thinking about those troops while recalling
the days when he helped bring prisoners of war home from Vietnam.

After talking about his Vietnam experiences at a recent Coats Kiwanis
Club meeting, Mr. Jernigan said he was reminded again of the hard
times soldiers and airmen faced during the Vietnam War in the 1960s
and ’70s.

Mr. Jernigan, age 72, retired from the Air Force as a chief master
sergeant in 1985 after 30 years of service. Today, he and his wife,
Helen, age 68, live on Helen Lane near Coats. After years of living
all over the world, they moved back to Mr. Jernigan’s native Harnett
County for retirement.

Mr. Jernigan was as a loadmaster, responsible for helping load cargo
planes that would carry men and supplies. He was a member of the 53rd
Airlift Squadron known as the Blackjack Unit, the only unit in the Air
Force to have a gambling symbol on its insignia. Mr. Jernigan spent
six years as a loadmaster, 15 years as a line loadmaster and seven
years as a superintendent.

During the Vietnam War, Mr. Jernigan flew out of Okinawa, Japan,
helping haul supplies to troops on the ground. His duty required him
to spend two-week missions in Saigon.

The city was very...

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Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com