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Members of Team Ramstein honored prisoners of war or those missing in action at a luncheon Sept. 17 at the Ramstein Officers’ Club.
The 435th Air Ground Operations Wing hosted the event in remembrance of National POW/MIA Recognition Day, featuring guest speaker retired Navy Capt. David Hoffman.
Captain Hoffman, a 15-month Vietnam War POW, chronicled his experience while held in Hanoi, describing how his aircraft tail was blown off at 650 knots, 25,000 feet above the north part of the country. His ejection broke his arm, and he was shot in the foot as he descended in his parachute.
Once in captivity, his time was less than comfortable as he was almost immediately chained to a plank and put in isolation.
Captain Hoffman said he was given a half a cup of powdered milk and half a baguette for breakfast. His other meal consisted of soup — either pumpkin or cabbage boiled in water, depending on the time of year. Though asked to clean up the camp, the American prisoners refused until a blockade caused their captors to replace the milk with sugar.
At this point, they stuffed the sugar in their clothes, and as other detainees distracted the guards, the sugar was poured into the gas tanks of trucks, so they wouldn’t work — trucks that were used to transport the North Vietnamese to the surface-to-air missile structures.
“The little things we could do to (irritate) them,” he said, “because that meant there were people who had to watch us, and they weren’t shooting at our buddies. So, we were doing our part.”
The former POW went on to reiterate a question that a fellow detainee in the camp, Charlie Plumb, asked to audiences: “Who’s packing your parachute?”
“Everybody has got somebody who provides what they need to make it through the day. There are many different kinds of parachutes: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual,” he said. “So sometimes, it’s the daily challenges in life, the things we miss, that are really the important stuff. Too many times, we fail to say hello, please or thank you to somebody who’s done something, or to congratulate somebody on something wonderful, or just to do something nice for no reason at all. So, go through this week, this month, this year and recognize someone who’s packed your parachute.”
This message particularly stood out to a member in the crowd, Christian Britton, a Junior ROTC cadet and son of Senior Master Sgt. Vince Britton, 435th Contingency Response Group superintendent of contingency operations.
“That struck me slightly more than anything else he said, mostly because I haven’t taken the time to take people seriously like I should,” Christian said. “Sometimes, it’s just the little things like that.”
For Christian’s father, that was one of the reasons Christian was brought to the
luncheon.
“I wanted to meet a legend. I wanted to listen to what his words were and also remember POWs and those MIA,” Sergeant Britton said. “It was for that same reason I brought my son. I wanted him to be able to experience it, especially being JROTC with possible future endeavors of joining the Air Force.”
In closing, Captain Hoffman focused not only on the veterans of the past, but those veterans serving today.
“Remember, it’s the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion,” he said. “It’s the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It’s the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech … It’s the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote. It’s the veteran who salutes that flag, who serves under that flag. And, I give thanks every day of my life that you’re out there doing just that.”
(For the full story, visit www.ramstein.af.mil or www.kaiserslauternamerican.com.)
