VIETNAM WAR POW CHROME WRIST BAND: CAPT. JOHN NASMYTH 4-4-66

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VIETNAM WAR POW CHROME WRIST BAND: CAPT. JOHN NASMYTH 4-4-66:
$9.99

Capt JOHN H. NASMYTH JRBranch:USAFFull Name:Capt JOHN H. NASMYTH JRAge:32City, State, Country:SAN GABRIEL, USIncident Date:04 Sep 66Incident Country:NVNStatus:RETURNEEName: John Heber Nasmyth, Jr.Rank/Branch: O2/US Air ForceUnit:Date of Birth:Home City of Record: San Gabriel CADate of Loss: 04 September 1966Country of Loss: North VietnamLoss Coordinates: 213516N 1054229E (WJ733872)Status (in 1973): Released POWCategory:Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4COther Personnel in Incident: Raymond P. Salzarulo, Jr. (remains returned)Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 from one or more ofthe following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondencewith POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.NETWORK 2008.REMARKS: 730218 RELSD BY DRVSYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, serveda multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo andelectronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2),and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and missiontype). The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low andhigh altitudes. The F4 was selected for a number of state-of-the-artelectronics conversions, which improved radar intercept and computer bombingcapabilities enormously. Most pilots considered it one of the \"hottest\"planes around.A Phantom flight crew comprised of 1LT John H. Nasmyth, Jr., pilot, and 1LTRaymond P. Salzarulo, Jr., Bombardier/Navigator, was dispatched on a missionover North Vietnam on September 4, 1966. As the aircraft was over Bac ThaiProvince, about 10 miles southwest of the city of Thai Nguyen, it was shotdown.1LT Nasmyth was captured by the Vietnamese and spent the next six and a halfyears as a \"guest\" in prison systems in and around Hanoi. He was released inFebruary 1973 in Operation Homecoming.The Vietnamese told Nasmyth that his backseater was dead, and his body hadbeen in the crashed aircraft. Yet, since September 1966, the Vietnamese havedenied any knowledge of the fate of Ray Salzarulo.Since the war ended, over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing,prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.Government. Many authorities who have examined this largely classifiedinformation are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captivetoday. These reports are the source of serious distress to many returnedAmerican prisoners. They had a code that no one could honorably returnunless all of the prisoners returned. Not only that code of honor, but thehonor of our country is at stake as long as even one man remains unjustlyheld. It\'s time we brought our men home.Raymond Paul Salzarulo, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1964.He was promoted to the rank of Captain during the period he was listed Missingin Action. His remains were returned by the Vietnamese to U.S. control onSeptember 13, 1990.John H. Nasmyth, Jr. was promoted to the rank of Captain during the period hewas a Prisoner of War.SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, EditorP.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date andspelling errors).JOHN H. NASMYTH JR.Major - United States Air ForceShot Down: September 4, 1966Released: February 18, 1973Hanoi Release John Nasmyth is the title of a book which Major Nasmyth iswriting. It is also the message on the sign which his parents displayed intheir yard for several years while he was a prisoner. Nasmyth chopped down thesign when he returned home. He had been imprisoned for 6 1/2 years, after beinghit by a surface to air missile.His first eight days in captivity he spent in a room called the knobby room, akind of torture room. He received no medical treatment for his wounds. Infact, the bandages which some civilians had given him were taken off so hiswound could fester. The tortures, which he and 95% of the other prisonersunderwent, were in the forms of solitary confinement, leg irons, and bindingswith nylon straps which stretched the tendons and numbed the limbs. Thesetortures were not only severe, they were long; many spent months and months inleg irons and years in solitary confinement.Time was the biggest enemy. To help fill the hours one of the forms ofentertainment was telling movies. Some men were so good at describing filmsthey had seen that we would listen to their re-runs! Old movies that wouldhave lasted for three hours might be expanded to five as they were told insuch detail. Men did the same with books they had read. Hours were spentmaking up dictionaries and teaching each other courses. I taught a class inpsychology which I had studied in school. At the six o\'clock beep - the cityof Hanoi sounds a horn at 6 a.m. - guys would meet down in the corner of theroom for a Spanish class. Others would meet in another corner for a biologyclass. The floor was like black cement and we would use it for a blackboard.Broken pieces of red tile from the roof made good chalk. Ink could be madefrom a number of things, ground up cigaret ashes for one thing. Some wouldtake toilet paper and make dictionaries - French, Spanish, Russian. Then theywould pass them around. After some years there would be guys teaching Frenchwho had never taken French in their lives, like me. I was teaching Spanish thelast year. We learned it from the others.My only plan for the future is to continue working with my family in seekinginformation from the North Vietnamese about the 1300 Americans who are stilllisted as missing in action.=================John \"Spike\" Nasmyth retired from the United States Air Force as a Major. Heresides out of the country.