Gallery: Prisoners of War
Newly freed prisoners of war celebrate as their C-141A aircraft lifts off from Hanoi, North Vietnam, on February 12, 1973, during Operation Homecoming.
Photo: USAF
Photo: USAF Captain Wilmer N. Grubb captured January 26, 1966 (Air Force Times)
50 years later, sons of POW look for answers in Vietnam
By Kristin Davis
On a snowy January day nearly 50 years ago, a Western Union driver delivered the telegram that changed Jeff Grubb's life.
His father, Lt. Col. Wilmer Grubb, was missing in action, his reconnaissance plane shot down during a Jan. 26, 1966, mission over North Vietnam.
Days after that fateful knock on the door of their Central Virginia home, North Vietnam released photos of Wilmer Grubb in seemingly fine health, uninjured except for what appeared to be a superficial knee wound. In the most iconic image meant to portray the humane treatment of prisoners of war, the pilot sits on the ground in his uniform while a nurse tends to his knee and a Vietnamese soldier, his gun at the ready, looks on.
Yet when the remains of Wilmer Grubb were at last returned home in 1974, the Vietnamese claimed he'd died nine days after his capture from injuries sustained in the crash.
It was a story his wife, Evelyn, who died in 2005, never believed.
For more about their story: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2015/03/03/50-years-later-sons-of-pow-look-for-answers-in-vietnam/