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Navy Rear Adm. James B. Stockdale poses for a photograph in full dress white uniform. He is one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the Navy and wears 26 personal combat decorations.
Episode 2734 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Navy Vice Adm. James Stockdale and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Monday: Navy Vice Adm. James Stockdale. It was submitted by Katie Lange, a writer for DOD News.
Lange, in her story, reported that Nearly 600 U.S. prisoners of war returned from Vietnam during Operation Homecoming in early 1973. Many had endured the longest wartime captivity of any group of U.S. POWs in the nation’s history.
One of those repatriated was Navy Vice Adm. James B. Stockdale, who was a truly great American and an iconic Naval aviator who remains the only three-star admiral to have worn both aviator wings and the Medal of Honor.
Lange added this about Stockdale; he was born Dec. 23, 1923, in Abingdon, Illinois. He briefly went to Monmouth College in his home state before attending the U.S. Naval Academy. After graduating in 1947, he became a pilot by 1950. Over the next 15 years, he worked his way up the ranks and was sent by the Navy to earn his master’s degree in international relations at Stanford University. But he preferred flying over academics, so he went back to that when the Vietnam War began.
By late summer of 1965, Stockdale had already flown nearly 200 combat missions in his career. On Sept. 9, the pilot was on his third tour of duty, commanding Carrier Air Group 16 on a mission over North Vietnam. On his flight back from the target, Stockdale’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down. He ejected over a small village and was captured.
Listen to episode 2734 and discover more about Navy Vice Adm. James Stockdale and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.
