BOYER, TERRY LEE

Name: Terry Lee Boyer
Rank/Branch: O2/United States Air Force
Unit: 497th TFS
Date of Birth: 22 September 1938
Home City of Record: Visalia CA
Date of Loss: 17 December 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 211700 North 1051500 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D
Missions: 40
Other Personnel in Incident: Kenneth Fleenor, returnee

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: 730314 RELEASED BY DRV

SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
UPDATE - 09/95 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

TERRY LEE BOYER
Captain- United States Air Force
Shot Down: December 17, 1967
Released: March 14, 1973

Captain Boyer was born in Los Angeles and moved with his family to Visalia
where he attended schools through high school. Following a four-year tour of
duty in the U.S. Submarine Services, Captain Boyer attended the College of
the Sequoias and Fresno State College where he graduated with a degree in
Business Administration. In 1965 he entered the Air Force, was commissioned
a Second Lieutenant and proceeded to pilot training in both Arizona and
California. In October of 1967 he was assigned to fly F-4 combat missions in
Viet Nam. Captain Boyer was shot down and captured in December, 1967.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the American people,
for what you have been to me during my imprisonment: a source of courage.
The love, honor, and gifts you have bestowed upon me since my return have
meant a good deal to me. I have yet to determine in my own mind what I have
done that is deserving of this consideration.

"For some reason, you people insist on calling me a hero. I would like to
say that I am not the hero- you, the American people, are the heroes. You
have made the United States what it is, and I thank you for it.

"I have made this statement time and again during my speaking engagements
and I would like to make it again to you now.

"We were not a hand-picked group of Americans sent to prison cells in Hanoi.
No, we were just average American citizens like you and your neighbors. But,
by the grace of God, you could have been sitting in that prison cell instead
of me. I know that had you been there, you would have felt and acted as we
did. We did not want to conduct ourselves in any manner that would be
unworthy of the love and respect you have always bestowed upon us, your
military men.

"It is this love and respect that makes Americans the wonderful people they
are. It is this love and respect that has enabled the American people to
build the greatest nation in the world.

"I was indeed very fortunate to have been able to serve and represent a
nation of people such as you, my beloved Americans. My heartfelt thanks go
out to each and every one of you. May I never conduct myself in a manner
that would reflect in discredit upon the American people."

November 1996
Terry Boyer retired from the United States Air Force as a Lt. Colonel. He
and his wife Vicki reside in California.

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