Frank Anton Chief Warrant Officer US Army, Retired Prisoner of War Vietnam 1/5/68 - 3/16/73

Hi. My name is Frank Anton.

I was a helicopter gunship pilot in Vietnam until I was shot down and captured on January 5, 1968. I spent the next 62 months as a prisoner of war. I was held in the moving camps in the south until early 1971 when we were marched to North Vietnam where I remained until the general prisoner release in March of 1973.

At my debriefing after being released, I was shown photographs to help jog my memory. Included among those photos were pictures taken of me while I was a prisoner. Some of them were taken from a very short distance, indicating that throughout my captivity, my whereabouts were clearly known to friendly troops located in close proximity...close enough to effect a rescue of myself and the other sick and dying Americans held with me.

But that is another story...

What I'd like to tell you about is another Prisoner of War. Like me, he was an American helicopter pilot.

I saw him once and only once...but I have never forgotten him.

MY adopted POW.