CUTTER, JAMES DICKINSON

Name: James Dickinson Cutter
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O3
Unit: 308 TFW
Date of Birth: 23 November 1940
Home City of Record: Stillwater OK
Date of Loss: 17 Febraury 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 1065300 North 1065000 East Quang Binh (really DMZ)
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105G
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Kenneth Fraser, Returnee
Refno: 1797

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: 730328 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).

JAMES D. CUTTER
Captain - United States Air Force
Shot down: February 17, 1972
Released: March 28, 1973

What a tremendous feeling of elation on March 28, 1973! That was the day
that I was released with 39 other American POW's by North Vietnam. It was a
joyous day but was just the beginning of a tremendous welcome home by
Americans near and far. We were told that the welcome home would continue to
get bigger and better as we returned to the United States, but I never could
have dreamed of the overwhelming reception awaiting us. Thanks to the good
Lord and the courage and perseverance of President Nixon, we are home today.

My life began on 23 November 1940, when I was born at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. My
dad was in the Army but has since retired in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is
coaching swimming and Mother is teaching English at Oklahoma State University.
My two brothers and sister, all younger, attended Oklahoma State University
too. I have a wonderful wife, Jinny, and two fine boys-Jimmy, 10 and Keith, 8.

I attended North Carolina State College, receiving a BS degree in Industrial
Management and a commission in AFROTC in 1962. In October 1963,1 received my
pilot's wings at Moody AFB, Georgia. I spent the next six years flying a
KC-135 at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota and Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina.
The fall of 1969, I headed for McConnell AFB, Kansas to fly the F-105,
affectionately known as the "Thud." This was the beginning of a long sought
after dream. After the completion of F-105 training, our class was held at
McConnell AFB because the single seat Thuds were coming home. The summer of
1971, I received my assignment to Southeast Asia in the F-105 Wild Weasel. I
was finally going to see it from the other end after having supported the
Thuds and other fighters for fifteen months while in the KC-135 tanker.

I was at Korat AB, Thailand from July 1971 until I was shot down by a SAM
(surface-to-air-missile) over North Vietnam on 17 February 1972. I spent the
first month in solitary at the Hanoi Hilton before being moved to the Zoo with
my backseater. The remainder of my 13 « months as a POW were spent at the Zoo
except for a month at Christmas during the bombing that ended the war.

It was a tough decision for our President to make, but one that I feel was
right. The North Vietnamese have once again shown their true colors and
intentions by breaking the Peace and Agreements. There's no conceivable reason
why we can't have our MIA's and KIA's back except that they probably don't
want us to see their preparations for continued fighting. Why all the
construction and building of roads, warehouses, barracks, AAA and SAM sites,
and large numbers of North Vietnamese troops in Northern South Vietnam?
There's a lot more, but that's just one of their violations. It seems that the
signing of the Agreements by the North Vietnamese is only a continued attempt
to still conquer South Vietnam after the defeat they suffered at Christmas of
1972. Their memory is certainly shortlived.

November 1996
James Cutter retired from the United States Air Force as a Major. His wife's
name is Jinny.

If you know of the where-a-bouts of this former Prisoner of War, please
contact the P.O.W. NETWORK at 660-928-3304 or email pownet@asde.com

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