A Flag-Waving Tribute to a Brave POW

column by Susan Page, Susan's Page, MidWeek Magazine, Oahu, Hawaii

    Independence Day is right around the corner.  To celebrate, I always wear something red, white and blue.

    But on this Fourth of July, the colors of our flag will have an extra-special meaning.  I will wear them in honor of a very special Navy pilot who took off from the USS Kitty Hawk 37 years ago and did not return to the famous aircraft carrier until 30 years later.

    The story began Feb. 3, 1966.  Navy Lt. Gerald Coffee had been assigned to fly reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam. He was flying the RA-5C  - the Vigilante  -  a monster of a two-seat jet, bulging with high-powered reconnaissance equipment.

    That day Lt. Coffee and his crewman, Lt. Bob Hanson, took off on a routine mission over North Vietnam.  How could they know that this flight would be far from routine?

    This time they'd not make that familiar carrier approach. No Landing Signal Officer (LSO) would safely signal the "Vigi" down onto the center line; no tail hook would snag the massive cable, bringing the heaving machine to a stop.  There'd be no debriefing in the "ready room," no laughin' "n" scratchin' with squadron mates over the day's hairy exploits, no hot coffee to soothe the nerves.

    There would be none of those familiar things that day because their plane was shot down.  It splashed somewhere in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of North Vietnam.  Hanson was killed.  Coffee was taken prisoner.

    His landing on the Kitty Hawk would have to wait.

    With untreated injuries - a broken forearm, dislocated shoulder, numerous cuts and burns - Coffee was moved at night by North Vietnamese Army regulars northward toward a final destination, Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam.  Little did he know then that a tiny, dingy cell would be his home for seven years and nine days.

    It was on the journey northward in a small village that Coffee experienced the first of many interrogations.  "What was the name of your aircraft and ship?" was the first question his interrogator asked.  No chance he would give up the name Kitty Hawk.  Bound by the American Military Fighting Man's Code of Conduct, the rules of the Geneva Convention and loyalty to the men back on board awaiting their next "hop," he repeated only his name, rank, serial number and date of birth.

    "Obviously, you are a diehard, so we have no more purpose for you."  Silence.  At once an order was given and Coffee's arms, the broken one now greatly swollen and throbbing with pain, were tied tightly behind him around the trunk of a tree.  A firing squad appeared, and the signal was given in Vietnamese, "Ready, aim, fire."  The slug from an M-1 came roaring toward Coffee's head, splintering the tree trunk next to his ear.  Still silence.

    The torture that followed was unbearably brutal, and nearly incomprehensible to anyone who didn't endure it.  And even though the New York Times, easily accessible to the Vietnamese Communists, had already printed an account of his shoot down and identified the Kitty Hawk, it took hours of inhuman torture before Lt. Coffee finally whispered through a broken tooth, "RA-5C-Kitty Hawk."

    Today, Jerry Coffee is a retired Navy Captain living in Aiea Heights, Hawaii.  He is a professional inspirational speaker and the author of Beyond Survival.  When he speaks to audiences across the country, he often kids that the Kitty Hawk owes him a landing.

    Well, on June 21, 1996 - 30 years, 4 months and 18 days later, out in the ocean off Oahu - thanks to Adm. R.J. Zlatoper, commander in chief U.S. Pacific Fleet, he got that landing.

    Following the end of the RIMPAC exercise at Pearl Harbor, members of the national and local Navy League, Navy families and special guest were invited to go out aboard the Kitty Hawk  and spend a day at sea in an effort to demonstrate what this country's sailors and Marines actually do.

    The Admiral's helicopter touched down softly on the flight deck.   Soon Jerry Coffee stepped out.  He strode proudly toward the ship's commanding officer, T.E. Magee, and saluted.  Those watching could only imagine what Jerry was feeling.

    Freedom. What price is too high to pay?

    Capt. Jerry Coffee and all the other POWs who are still waiting for their landings to match their takeoffs can tell you.  It's worth keeping the flag - our symbol of freedom - sacred, at least in the one place where no one can embroider, dye or stencil it - in our hearts.

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