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Whidbey Island Commemorates 35th Anniversary of Operation Homecoming

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080215-07
Release Date: 2/15/2008 9:36:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tucker M. Yates, Fleet Public Affairs Center, Det. Northwest

OAK HARBOR, Wash. (NNS) -- Vietnam War veterans and members of the Whidbey Island community gathered to remember Operation Homecoming at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island, Feb. 12.

Operation Homecoming marked the end of peace negotiations between former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho, Jan. 27, 1973, resulting in the first of four groups of Prisoners of War being released Feb. 12.

Approximately 150 people attended the anniversary luncheon at the NAS Whidbey Island Officers' Club.

Retired Navy Capt. Bill Metzger was the guest speaker for the event. He gave the audience an opportunity to hear about the events which occurred shortly after his F-8 Crusader took off from the flight deck of USS Bon Homme Richard (CV 31) and the years that followed.

"Only a few hours later, I found myself lying naked on a stretcher in a 12-foot square windowless, dirt floor room," said Metzger. "For nearly a month I was left alone to ward off the grim reaper and survive. With a left forearm ripped apart by shrapnel, a fractured right leg and two slugs in my left hip, I was indeed a mess."

After a month he began to fear he would lose his arm to gangrene and began to fabricate answers to interrogations. In return for his "cooperation," they removed the shrapnel and slugs with little or no anesthesia. He also spoke of the treatment prisoners received to allow the Vietnamese to control them.

"Everyone was broken, not to divulge military information of value, but to be brought to submission through the ensuing years, frequent whippings, beatings and other forms of punishment," said Metzger. "Never allowed to see or speak to anyone outside our cell was consistent with the near obsession to keep us completely submissive. It seemed that they actually feared us, so keeping us separated and unorganized served to maintain their control."

Metzger was released on Mar. 4, 1973, in the second wave of Operation Homecoming after spending nearly six years as a prisoner in North Vietnam.

"Remembering our return 35 years ago, it was not as it is so frequently referred to as the return of 'American heroes,' but as fiercely proud Americans," said Metzger. "I thank you, I thank my country, and I thank my God for being able to be back with you again. God Bless you and God Bless America."

Lt. Cmdr. Brian Danielson, Electronic Attack Squadron 129, who repatriated the remains of his father, Capt. Ben Danielson, from Laos and laid him to rest June 15, 2007, felt this event was a good reminder of those who have sacrificed for their country in the past.

"We have to give respect to the people who served and sacrificed themselves through their deployments and their service and I would never want to see them overlooked," said Danielson. "I don't think you can hear it enough and I think today's officers and enlisted are benefited by getting to hear these stories of people who've made hard sacrifices and who've set the tradition for us to follow."

For more news from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, visit www.navy.mil/local/naswhidbey/.