2016 Freedom Flyer Reunion

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Video by Anthony Hearst

2016 Freedom Flyer Reunion

502nd Air Base Wing

March 4, 2016 | 3:20

The 43rd Annual Freedom Flyer Reunion Symposium and Wreath Laying Ceremony took place at JBSA Randolph March 4 to honor POWs held captive during the Vietnam War. The reunion coincided with the anniversary of the release of 29 Freedom Flyer POWs on March 4th, 1973. The Freedom Flyer program began that year when the 560th Flying Training Squadron began retraining former POWs to fly again in the Air Force. Later, the squadron provided POW pilots who had not been retrained the opportunity to fly one last time, ensuring that their last flight in an Air Force aircraft wouldn’t be the flight on which they were shot down and captured. Former Air Force pilot Paul Granger became the 196th Freedom Flyer with his long-overdue “freedom flight”.