JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Airmen on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson gained firsthand insight into resilience and military heritage during a visit from retired U.S. Air Force Capt. Bill Robinson, the longest-held enlisted prisoner of war in U.S. history.
“He’s a living piece of American history,” said Chief Master Sgt. Adam Petersen, Elmendorf Professional Military Education Center commandant. “It's hard to pass up the opportunity to bring that experience to Alaska to share with our Airmen.”
Robinson enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1961 and was trained as a helicopter crew chief. He served stateside and in Korea before he was deployed to Thailand in 1965, where he was assigned to an HH-43B Huskie rescue helicopter. It was during an attempted rescue of a F-105 Thunderchief pilot that his helicopter was shot down.
Over the next seven-and-half years, Robinson and the crew would experience interrogation, torture and solitary confinement as POWs in North Vietnam. He received a direct commission during his internment and, after his release in 1973 as part of Operation Homecoming, he continued to serve in the U.S. Air Force for another 11 years.
Since his retirement, Robinson has worked with other former POWs to communicate an important message.
“We’re not trying to beat our chest,” he said. “We’re just trying to help people to understand that freedom isn’t free. We have the greatest country in the world because of the men and women in uniform who are willing to give all for the betterment of everyone else.”
For Petersen, the lessons from the previous generation of warfighters are still relevant today.
“It’s so important that we never forget the sacrifice of those who came before us and wore this uniform,” he said. “Hearing these stories, and hearing them firsthand, is a powerful reminder for our Airmen of what they are capable of and what their service means.”