KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Capt. Martin Neuens kisses the ground on arrival in Honolulu with released POWs in 1973.

Thirty years ago, some 600 POWs
finally came home, and Hawaii was
the first place they came
for Operation Homecoming

---

By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

For nearly a year, Kailua resident Emilia Thomas never knew that her husband, a Marine Corps aviation observer, was alive after being shot down in Vietnam and being held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.

"That's the only thing that still bothers me," said retired Marine Chief Warrant Officer William Thomas, who was captured on May 19, 1972, a few miles from Quang Tri city. "They never told my family they had me. I was always listed as missing in action."

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Former prisoner of war William Thomas and wife Emilia, at home in Kailua. Thomas was a POW in Vietnam for a year before his return to the islands in 1973.

Thomas, 66, finally did return after 11 months in captivity -- among the more than 600 American prisoners of war brought to Hickam Air Force Base over six weeks as part of Operation Homecoming three decades ago.

The Air Force will mark the 30th anniversary of Operation Homecoming with a series of events this weekend, beginning with a repatriation ceremony this morning of the remains from two crash sites. Another shipment from the same sites is expected next week.

Hickam was the first American soil touched by the POWs returning from North Vietnamese prison camps. The first 40 American POWs left Hanoi's Gia Lam airport on a C-130 Hercules cargo plane on Feb. 12, 1973, to begin Operation Homecoming. Those who came home dropped to the Tarmac and kissed the ground.

It signaled an end to U.S. involvement in drawn-out conflict in Vietnam, where a decade of fighting left more than 55,000 Americans dead, including 1,738 airmen.

Today, Hickam is still where the remains of America's fallen "come home" from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars for identification at the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, the military's top forensic facility.

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Kisses and leis welcome the former prisoners, including Army Chief Warrant Officer Roger Miller, left, and Michael Benge, a civilian released with the prisoners.

The remains, recovered from Salazan province in southern Laos, could possibly belong to an Air Force F4 jet that crashed in 1972 with two men on board.

The other incident being investigated occurred June 9, 1968, and involved a four-member Air Force HH-3E "Jolly Green" helicopter rescue crew. It was led by Lt. Jack Rittichier, the only Coast Guard pilot listing as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The other members of his crew were Elmer Holden, James Locker and Richard Yeend.

Rittichier, 33, was one of three Coast Guard exchange pilots to fly search and rescue missions with the Air Force. On June 9, 1968, near the northern edge of the A Shau Valley, his Jolly Green crew was called to rescue a Marine Corps pilot who was being used as "bait" by the North Vietnamese to lure rescue helicopters. As it attempted to land, it was struck by heavy enemy ground fire and fell to the earth in flames.

A joint service honor guard and Vietnam War POWs will commemorate the arrival of the remains from Vietnam at 9 a.m. at Hickam's base operations building.

At noon, 24 former Vietnam prisoners of war, including Thomas, will be honored at a luncheon at Hickam where some of them will discuss their experiences in captivity, release and the years that followed. Later that day, Gov. Linda Lingle will honor the POWs at a special retreat ceremony.

Tomorrow, Col. Al Riggle, 15th Air Base Wing commander, will speak at a special 4:45 p.m. sunset memorial service at Hickam. That will be followed by a special POW dinner at Hickam's officers club.

STAR-BULLETIN / FEBRUARY 1973 After a few moments of almost eerie quiet, people at Hickam Air Force base on Valentine's Day in 1973 broke into cheers, waving welcoming signs as former POWs returned home.

Thomas enlisted in the Marines in 1953 and was only supposed to be in Vietnam on a short temporary duty assignment when he left the 12th Marines at Kaneohe on April 6, 1972. It was his third Vietnam tour. More than a month later, while serving as a back-seat observer in an Air Force OV10 Bronco reconnaissance aircraft, he was shot down just north of Da Nang.

"Our target was a NVA (North Vietnamese Army) battalion CP (command post)," said Thomas, "when we were hit by a surface-to-air missile. We were at 8,000 feet when we took a hit. We got down to 900 feet when the pilot and I ejected.

"We had hoped to get out to sea, but the winds blew us inland and we landed about 200 feet near the very NVA CP (command post) we were suppose to be scouting. ... Six minutes after being hit, we became POWs."

After spending 86 days in "the jungle" at several different POW camps, Thomas said he eventually ended up in Hanoi at "the Plantation" sometime between Aug. 6-10, 1972. Eventually, he said there were other POWs from Hawaii -- Tom Kobashigawa (former Gov. John Waihee's brother-in-law) and Tom Horio -- who were imprisoned in the same camp.

Thomas stayed in the Marine Corps for 31 years and retired in 1985 as a chief warrant officer. Since then he has worked as a volunteer at the Kaneohe Bay facility. He helps Marines and their dependents prepare income tax forms.

"After I retired 18 years ago, I sometimes think of the war and what happened then. I had to survive. I try not to let things that bother other people bother me.

"My only gripe is that no one ever told my wife that they had me. ... In fact, my father and mother in Pennsylvania weren't notified that I was being released until three minutes before deadline was up on (release of a list of) what prisoners were coming home.

"My wife was here waiting. My mother and dad were waiting in Pennsylvania. They almost gave up."

Emilia Thomas said: "All I was told was that he was missing in action. I had no idea he was a prisoner of war."

She contemplated moving her family back to the mainland but finally decided to remain here. "I felt if he was coming back, I would be a lot closer here."

Emilia Thomas said the loss of her husband came "as a tremendous shock."

"Then it goes from shock to disbelief," said Emilia Thomas, who had been married to William since 1959. "Religion comes out in desperate situations. We just did a lot of praying."

William Thomas returned home and landed at Hickam on April 1, 1973.