Obituary: Colonel John J. "Jack" Pitchford; was POW at 'Hanoi Hilton' December 4, 2009
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
JACKSON, Miss. - Retired Air Force Colonel Jack Pitchford, a fighter
pilotfrom Mississippi who survived seven years in the notorious
Vietnamese prisoncamp known as the "Hanoi Hilton,'' has died. He was
82. The Natchez, Miss., native died Wednesday after battling a brain
tumor, said his brother, Jim, 64, of Baton Rouge, La.
Colonel Pitchford was shot down over North Vietnam in 1965 and taken
to Hoa Lo prison, a hellish place where many Americans, including US
Senator John S. McCain and Medal of Honor recipient George "Bud'' Day,
endured brutal torture. Colonel Pitchford was released in 1973, the
same year as McCain, who was imprisoned there in 1967 after his plane
was shot down.
Colonel Pitchford never fully recovered from his injuries, but never
regretted his service to his country, his brother said. "His
achievement in life was really sustaining himself through the ordeal
inprison camp, and he considered himself a very fierce resister,'' Jim
Pitchford said.
Colonel Pitchford attended Louisiana State University on the GI bill
after World War II, and then entered the Air Force officer training
program. He missed combat in both World War II and Korea because of
training assignments, his brother said.
Colonel Pitchford volunteered for a perilous assignment in Vietnam
with the Wild Weasels, a group of pilots who flew low-altitude
missions hunting downand destroying surface-to-air missiles. He became
the first Weasel pilot taken prisoner after bailing out of his F-100
Super Sabre on Dec. 20, 1965, according to his brother and Air Force
records.
Colonel Pitchford was shot in the arm three times, and the man flying
with him, Bob Trier, was killed in a gun battle on the ground, Jim
Pitchford said. In a 2005 interview with the Natchez Democrat
newspaper, the pilot recalled his time at war and the torture some of
the Americans endured, including being hung from the ceiling by their
feet.
"War is hell,'' he said at the time. "It truly is hell. There are no
winners and no losers.''
John A. Dramesi, who wrote the book "Code of Honor'' in the 1970s
about his experiences in the camp, said Colonel Pitchford gave him
what little food he had as Dramesi prepared for what would be an
unsuccessful escape attempt.
"He was a great guy and a great military man,'' said Dramesi.
After retiring from the military, Colonel Pitchford returned to
Natchez, the picturesque town he loved on the bluffs of the
Mississippi River. He enjoyed horse racing and frequented events such
as the Kentucky Derby, his brother said.
Colonel Pitchford was the second of 12 children. All seven brothers
who survived beyond childhood joined the military after high school.
Colonel Pitchford had no children, but he was deeply proud of six
nephews in theMarines and another in the Army, his brother said.
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2009/dec/03/col-john-pitchford-dies/
*FisherKing*
news:9806bf24-db1b-4674...@f16g2000yqm.googlegroups.com:
R.I.P. Colonel Pitchford.
--
"The better educated a person is, the less likely it is that person will be
a conservative."
"Reagan proved deficits don't matter"
Dick Cheney
"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it
is true that most stupid people are conservative." - John Stuart Mill