Seven years in ’s prisons did not dim Robbie Risner’s fighting spirit.

USAF photo

74 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2012 Vietnamese had seen Time magazine 46 POWs present joined in to express and knew who he was. “Some good their support. soul from the had sent “I felt like I was nine feet tall and them the copy,” he said, “and they could go bear hunting with a switch,” thought I was much more important Risner said later. The moment and his than I ever was.” words are recalled by a statue of Risner The magazine article told them not unveiled at the Air Force Academy in Nine only that Risner was an F-105 squadron 2001, the gift of Risner’s friend, H. Ross commander who had led 18 missions Perot, who had a history of honoring against , but also that the POWs. The statue, atop a five-foot he was a ace, having shot pedestal, is exactly nine feet high. Some down eight MiGs. It also disclosed de- 40 of Risner’s fellow POWs were on tails about his family. His captors knew hand for the event. The principal speaker they had an important officer and were was Bud Day, who said, “We knew he Feet determined to break him. “The Viet- was in fact nine feet tall. This is a life- namese regarded Robbie as their No. 1 size statue.” one prized prisoner,” said Col. Gordon Few American airmen have ever Larson, a fellow POW. “Robbie was by stood taller in the estimation of their far the most abused POW there because colleagues. Risner, now 86 and living of who they thought he was.” All of the in retirement in the Shenandoah Valley POWs were tortured and ill-treated, but in Virginia, is best known for his cour- Tall Risner got an extra portion. age and leadership as a POW and for By John T. Correll Risner was a leader among the airmen his book, The Passing of the Night: My held by the North Vietnamese, first as Seven Years as a Prisoner of the North he picture on the Time magazine senior-ranking officer and then as vice Vietnamese. cover for April 23, 1965, was commander of the 4th Allied POW Wing But that is just part of his story. Air Force Lt. Col. Robinson formed in Hoa Lo Prison, the infamous Risner. The cover story, “The “Hanoi Hilton.” According to Larson, Korean Ace Fighting American,” featured Risner was “the most influential and He was born James Robinson Risner 10 US military members in effective POW there.” in Mammoth Spring, Ark., on Jan. 16, Vietnam, with fighter pilot Risner—a In 1971, after the POWs moved into 1925, but the country doctor who deliv- Trising star in the Air Force—foremost large open-bay cells in Hanoi, Risner ered him failed to write down his first among them. and several of his colleagues organized name on the birth certificate. He soon “At the time it was a great honor,” a church service, a forbidden activity. became “Robbie” to himself and all Risner said. “But later, in prison, I would The North Vietnamese, obsessed with others except his mother, who always have much cause to regret that Time had maintaining control, interrupted the called him “Jamey.” ever heard of me.” service and dragged Risner and the other He grew up in Tulsa, Okla., and joined On Sept. 16, Risner was shot down leaders away for discipline. George E. the Air Corps as soon as he could, in over North Vietnam and captured. The “Bud” Day jumped on his bed and began 1943. He earned his wings and a com- additional bad news was that the North to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” All mission in the Aviation Cadets in May

Left: Robinson Risner with an F-86 during the Korean War. Risner would be credited with eight MiG kills during that war. Here: The USAF photo F-105 Risner was flying when he was shot down over North Vietnam. He ejected and became a .

AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2012 75 was down to five minutes remaining, I ficial coast-to-coast speed record of told him to shut down and I would try three hours and 38 minutes. to push him to Cho Do island, where For the transatlantic flight May 21, we had a rescue operation.” Risner flew alone. Roosevelt Field Risner carefully placed the upper on Long Island, where Lindbergh’s lip of his air intake in the tailpipe of flight originated, was closed, so Risner Logan’s F-86. “It stayed sort of locked was timed instead from the moment there as long as we both maintained he passed the control tower at Floyd stable flight, but the turbulence cre- Bennett Field in Brooklyn. He refueled ated by Joe’s aircraft made stable in the air twice, and six hours and 37 flight for me very difficult,” Risner minutes later—compared to 33 hours, said. Leaking fuel and hydraulic 30 minutes for Lindbergh—rolled to fluid made it even more difficult. a stop at Le Bourget Field in Paris at “If either of us bobbed the least the same spot Lindbergh did in 1927. bit, I’d be tossed out of contact,” Risner’s F-100F is now on static display Risner said. The two aircraft lost at the Air Force Academy prep school contact eight times on the way to in Colorado. Cho Do, 60 miles to the south. They After a year at made it all the way, “but the nose and a tour on the staff at US Pacific of my plane was all boogered up,” Command, Risner went to Kadena AB, Risner said. Okinawa, in 1964 as commander of The April 23, 1965, cover of Time Near the base, Logan bailed out the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron. A magazine featuring Risner. and landed in the water. Tragically, new war was under way in Asia, and he became entangled in his parachute Risner was about to become part of it. lines and drowned before the rescuers 1944. He applied for combat duty, but could reach him. Risner was awarded Shot Down Twice was sent instead to Panama, where he the for the mission. The war in Vietnam had not yet flew P-38 and P-39 fighters. He left broken out in full fury. Although air active duty in 1946, becoming an P-51 Following Lindbergh commandos were flying clandestine (later F-51) pilot with the Oklahoma Risner was promoted to major before combat missions in , US . he left Korea and was augmented into fighters did not deploy to Southeast His ANG unit was called up for the the regular Air Force in 1953. He kept Asia in strength until after the Tonkin Korean War, but was not going to Korea, on flying F-86s, first at Clovis USAF photo so Risner applied for and was accepted AFB, N.M., and then at Hahn AB, for photo reconnaissance, in which he West Germany, where he was the had some training. He shipped to Ko- squadron commander. He returned rea, where he flew 10 reconnaissance to the States at George AFB, Calif., missions before talking his way into where he commanded the squadron a transfer to the F-86, the Air Force’s evaluating the high-altitude air-to- best fighter at the time. He managed air capabilities of the new F-100, to work around the fact he had broken the follow-on fighter to the F-86. his arm in an off-duty accident before In 1957, he was chosen for the leaving the States—persuading a doc- “Spirit of St. Louis II” mission, tor to replace the cast with a leather commemorating the 30th anni- cover, and he flew that way. versary of ’s Flying with the 336th Fighter-Inter- nonstop flight across the Atlantic. ceptor Squadron out of Kimpo, South In preparation, Risner learned to Korea, he shot down five MiGs and refuel in flight during practice mis- became an ace within a few months. sions over the California desert. “Korea was probably the high point of The aircraft for the commemo- my whole career as far as real gratifica- ration was an F-100F, a two-seat tion is concerned,” he said later. In all, trainer. The lanky Lindbergh, who he flew 108 combat missions in Korea was 6 foot, 3 inches, declined an and was credited with destroying eight invitation to squeeze into the rear MiG-15s. cockpit for the long flight. En He was also known for another feat route from Palmdale, Calif., to of airmanship in Korea. On Sept. 15, his jumping-off point at McGuire 1952, Risner’s wingman, 2nd Lt. Joe AFB, N.J., Risner set a new unof- Logan, was hit by ground fire near the MiG airfield at Antung, China, on the Risner waves to the crowd on Yalu River. It appeared he would have his return to the States after his release from the notorious to bail out over enemy territory. “Joe’s Hanoi Hilton in 1973. Risner aircraft got hit in the belly and began was imprisoned for seven losing fuel,” Risner said. “When he years. 76 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2012 Gulf incidents in 1964. In January 1965, Risner led a contingent of seven F-105s from Kadena on a temporary assignment to Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam. Risner promptly received a medal and a reprimand for the same mission. As directed, his flight knocked down a bridge at Ban Ken in . Seeing Photo by Kevin Kreck via www.nampows.org another bridge downstream, Risner dropped it as well. The returning flight was met at Da Nang by Lt. Gen. Jo- seph H. Moore, Air Force commander in South Vietnam. “We all lined up and he went down and gave us an Air Medal because this was a successful strike,” Risner said. “He got to me and said, ‘By God, Robbie, what did you hit that other bridge for?’ ... He told me not to do that again.” In February, the 67th TFS deployed on temporary duty to Korat Air Base in Thailand. From there, Risner led the first Rolling Thunder air strike against North Vietnam March 2, 1965. On March 16, he was shot down for the first time. Hit by ground fire while attacking a radar site in North Vietnam, he made it to the Tonkin Gulf, where he ejected and was picked up. On April 3 and 4, Risner led two strikes against the 540-foot railroad Risner (center) accepts congratulations following the unveiling of the nine-foot-tall bridge at Thanh Hoa, 70 miles south statue at the Air Force Academy that honors him and other prisoners of war. of Hanoi. Called the “Dragon’s Jaw,” it was rated the toughest target in North His luck ran out on Sept. 16, when the squalid conditions in which they were Vietnam. The strikes did not succeed, he was shot down a second time. That held. He also established committees not because of lack of effort or cour- morning, he was leading a strike against and assigned tasks, such as keeping the age by the aicrews but because the a SAM site near Thanh Hoa. Flying low, POW list current. weapons were not good enough. The he crossed a small hill and was suddenly The Vietnamese did not want any bridge withstood 871 attacks before hit hard by ground fire. He engaged his military organization among the prison- smart laser guided bombs finally did afterburner for a surge of power and ers, and they aggressively suppressed at- the job in 1972. raced toward the ocean, trailing smoke tempts to communicate. Risner’s activity The target was defended by lethal and fire. His engine quit before he got was one more reason for putting him in ground fire and by the first MiG in- there, and he bailed out. He was captured his place. When he refused to make the terceptors the Air Force encountered by local militia, taken to Hanoi, and kind of incriminatory statements they in Vietnam. Risner’s own aircraft was delivered to the Hanoi Hilton. demanded, he was kept on bread and hit hard, but he pressed on despite He didn’t expect to be there for long water from Oct. 1 through Dec. 15. His smoke and fumes in the cockpit. For because “I had been told that Secretary legs were seldom out of shackles, and he heroism in leading the mission, Risner of Defense Robert McNamara had was in solitary confinement except for was brought to Washington, D.C., and passed the word down: ‘Do not make periods of torture. In one such session, awarded the Air Force Cross, the first any long-range plans and do not start his shoulder was dislocated. ever given to a living recipient. At the any new buildings. The war will be over At last, Risner signed an apology for ceremony, Gen. J. P. McConnell, Air by June 1966.’” violating North Vietnamese airspace Force Chief of Staff, growled, “Now Risner would remain a captive for and bombing North Vietnam. His goddammit, Robbie, don’t go back seven years, four months, and 27 days. subsequent direction to other POWs out there and get your tail shot off.” recognized the limits of resistance. In August, the 67th again deployed POW Leader “Resist until you are tortured,” he from Kadena to Korat for temporary After his capture, Risner was pro- said, “but do not take torture to the duty and Risner flew a mission a day moted to full with a date of point where you lose your capability over North Vietnam, often against tough rank of Nov. 8, 1965, but it would be to think and do not take torture to the defenses. “During one week, I was hit some time before he knew that. Even in point where you lose the permanent four missions out of five,” he said. He his previous grade, though, he was the use of your limbs.” Risner was even- was awarded the Silver Star for several senior-ranking officer among the POWs tually awarded his second Air Force of these early September missions. and, on their behalf, complained about Cross for courage under torture and AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2012 77 establishing an honorable standard that Democratic nomination and presiden- ready for duty “after three good meals could be followed by others. tial election and expressed hope for and a good night’s rest.” The Air Force Later, others succeeded Risner as an early end to the war. “We’d better wanted him to rest and take a special senior-ranking officer. The practice knock on wood,” she said, and knocked assistant job, but Risner balked. for establishing military command three times on the table. Afterward, He persuaded the Air Force to send among the POWs was to go by rank at Risner was in interrogation for hours him instead to qualify for operational the time of shootdown because it was as the Vietnamese tried to discover flying in the F-4E. “Knowing that I almost impossible to verify promotions what secret signal had been passed had been in prison and been out of the and dates of rank after capture. This with the knocking. cockpit for a long time, they didn’t eventually became a problem. Treatment of POWs changed for expect too much of me,” he said. “I “New guys were coming in shot the better in the fall of 1969. Part of didn’t have quite the finesse that I had down as commanders who had been the reason was public recognition at some eight or nine years earlier” but lieutenants in squadrons with old guys long last in the United States of the “I had not lost my ability to take off, who had been shot down as lieutenant plight of the POWs and the Vietnamese land, and fly an airplane in formation commanders; thus the old guys were reaction to the unfavorable publicity. and to position the airplane where I now working for their previous wing- Another factor was the death of North wanted it,” and “the instructors real- men,” said Cmdr. James B. Stockdale, Vietnamese strongman Ho Chi Minh. ized right away that I was coming back the ranking Navy officer. In 1970, US commandos raided the into my own.” In 1971, the senior POW, Col. John prison camp at Son Tay. No prison- He went to Cannon AFB, N.M., as P. Flynn, made an exception to the ers were there, having been moved commander of the 832nd Air Division, shootdown rank policy. He recognized recently, but the operation unnerved was promoted to , and Risner’s promotion to colonel and his the North Vietnamese. They pulled reassigned as vice commander of the 1965 date of rank, and named him vice all of the POWs back into the Hanoi Air Force Fighter Weapons Center at commander of the 4th Allied POW Hilton and sent hundreds of civilian Nellis AFB, Nev., in 1975, where he Wing, with Stockdale as his deputy Vietnamese convicts elsewhere to was also commander of the Red Flag for operations. make room for them. combat training program. He retired The name of the wing referred to The POWs were held in seven large in August 1976. the fourth war of the century and open-bay areas in a section of the For several years, Risner was ex- recognized that Thai and Vietnamese prison they called “Camp Unity.” The ecutive director of Texans’ War on were also held prisoner. fellowship was wonderful, especially Drugs and in 1985, President Reagan for those like Risner, whose total time appointed him an alternate US rep- Before and After Ho in solitary confinement during his resentative to the 40th session of the “Of all the indignities we were captivity added up to more than three United Nations General Assembly. He forced to undergo, I guess I resented years. It was at Camp Unity where the was constantly on the speaking circuit. meeting the foreign delegations more church service and the “nine feet tall” Risner—whose only staff assign- than any other,” Risner said. “There episode occurred. ment in his long career was the US was something so basically inhuman “I never lost hope, and never did I Pacific Command tour in the 1960s— about appearing before the delegations despair of coming back alive,” said never lost his fighter pilot perspective. and being asked how your food was Risner, who credits his religious faith “Risner’s last flight in a fighter plane and having to say it was excellent with getting him through the ordeal. occurred in 1990; he was 65 years old,” when it was not. Or to questions of said military historian John Darrell your treatment, to lie in front of the Back in the Saddle Sherwood. “A friend sent an F-16 to cameras and say it was great, when In 1973, the POWs were released by fly him to a formal dinner at Nellis. they had literally tortured the stuff- order of shootdown. Risner was No. 27 Not one to be a mere passenger, Risner ings out of you to make you appear.” in the first group freed on Feb. 12. En convinced the pilot to let him fly the There were command performances route from Hanoi to Clark Air Base in aircraft both ways. After the journey, for reporters as well. In 1967, Risner the Philippines on the first leg of the Risner fondly reflected, ‘The F-16 was was required to meet with Mary Mc- journey home, an Air Force doctor told a tremendous aircraft, but my personal Carthy, a liberal American writer the group they would be on a bland favorite to this day is the F-86.’” openly sympathetic with the Viet Cong. diet for a few days until their stomachs He was chosen six times as a par- “Do not say anything—regardless of adjusted. Risner told the doctor they ticipant in Air University’s “Gather- what she asks you—do not say anything had been subsisting on “a lot of pig fat ing of Eagles” program, where noted to disgrace or slander our country,” the and grease.” The doctor said, “If you airmen talk about their experiences. Vietnamese warned. “If you do, you can digest that, you can eat anything” At a gathering in the 1990s, he met a will suffer for the rest of the time you and changed the menu. That evening former Russian MiG-15 ace who had are here,” as if that was different from at Clark, Risner had steak and three been in Korea about the same time as the regular routine. pieces of cake. Risner and wondered if they had ever McCarthy found Risner unlikeable, Risner was in good physical shape, faced each other in combat. “a gaunt, squirrel-faced older man” having exercised for hours a day dur- “No way,” Risner said. “You who “had not changed his cultural ing captitivity. He reported that he was wouldn’t be here.” n spots.” She did not notice the scars or other evidence of torture. She John T. Correll was editor in chief of Air Force Magazine for 18 years and is now spoke enthusiastically of Sen. Eugene a contributor. His most recent article, “Encounters in the Tonkin Gulf,” appeared in McCarthy’s chances of winning the the January issue. 78 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2012