KEIRN, RICHARD PAUL
Name: Richard Paul Keirn
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 47th TFS
Date of Birth: 73 in 1998 [circa 1925]
Home City of Record: Lorain OH
Date of Loss: 24 July 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 210700N 1050900E (WJ155348)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C
Missions: 11
NOTE: B-17 co-pilot in WWII, DOL - 11 Sept 1944, 350th BMS, 14 missions
Stalag Luft 1, Germany - released 15 June 1945
Other Personnel in Incident: Roscoe H. Fobair (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project from one or more of the following:
raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Updated March 1997 by the P.O.W.
NETWORK.
REMARKS: 730212 RELSD BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: The Phantom, used by Air Force, Marine and Navy air wings, served
a multitude of functions including fighter-bomber and interceptor, photo and
electronic surveillance. The two man aircraft was extremely fast (Mach 2),
and had a long range (900 - 2300 miles, depending on stores and mission
type). The F4 was also extremely maneuverable and handled well at low and
high altitudes. Most pilots considered it one of the "hottest" planes
around.
Capt. Roscoe H. Fobair was the pilot and Capt. Richard P. Keirn the
weapons/systems operator on an F4C sent on a combat mission near Hanoi on
July 24, 1965. About 40 miles east-northeast of Hanoi, in Vinh Phu Province,
the aircraft was shot down.
Roscoe Fobair was captured by the North Vietnamese, but Fobair's fate
remained unclear. Sometime in late 1972 or early 1973, the North Vietnamese
announced that Fobair had died, failing to say when, or if he had been a
captive. Fobair remained classified Missing in Action.
Keirn spent the next 7 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. Like other Americans,
he endured torture and deprivation at the hands of the Vietnamese. Then on
February 12, 1973, he was released in Operation Homecoming.
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 classified
information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive
today. These reports are the source of serious distress to many returned
American prisoners. They had a code that no one could honorably return
unless all of the prisoners returned. Not only that code of honor, but the
honor of our country is at stake as long as even one man remains unjustly
held. It's time we brought our men home.
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).
RICHARD P. KEIRN
Lieutenant Colonel - United States Air Force
Shot Down: July 24, 1965
Released: February 12, 1973
I was shot down 24 July 1965 and remained in North Vietnam until I was
returned to the Free World at about 7:30 P.M., 12 February 1973; Manila
Time, from Hanoi. I had an extremely wonderful welcome at Clark AFB. -The
children lining the streets with their signs of "Welcome Home," "We Love
You," etc. were enough to make a grown man cry (me). Having been captured by
the Germans, I knew the excitement that a release would mean.
After five days at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, complete physical, complete
military debriefing and some press interviews, I and my wife returned to
Tampa, Florida. We arrived in Tampa at MacDill AFB, 1:10 P. M., 26 February
1973, aboard a T-39 aircraft and were greeted by the military leaders of
Readiness Command and the Base, plus hundreds of local people, old friends
and neighbors. My wife had purchased a piece of red carpet 30 feet long in
1966, which was laid out to my front door. During my absence my wife had
completely redecorated my home which I find a real home.
I have, since that day, made several TV program and personal appearances
which you may have seen, taken a one week vacation in Key West, Florida,
gone fishing, and last but not least I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I
have received literally hundreds of letters from bracelet wearers from all
over the country, plus hundreds of letters from those people just welcoming
me back.
I have had the pleasure of returning to the United States (the greatest
place in the world), of having a wonderful reunion with my very beautiful
wife, of seeing my daughter, of seeing my new grown son (13 years old when I
left; 21 years now), of seeing that son wrestle professionally, of seeing my
two sisters, my parents (both now 73), and meeting the hundreds of the
relatives and old friends and neighbors.
December 1996
Richard Keirn retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel. He and
his wife Hazel reside in Florida.
Richard "Kiern" is called the "unluckiest" prisoner on page 12 of Benjamin
Schemmer's "THE RAID" by Avon. It states:
One of the unluckiest prisoners of all was Lieutenant Colonel Richard P.
"Pop" Kiern, shot down on July 24, 1965, the seventh Air Force crewman
bagged in the Vietnam war. A B-17 copilot in World War II, Kiern had been
shot down on his first mission over Germany and spent nine months as a POW.
An F-105 pilot in Vietnam, he was shot down on his third day in Southeast
Asia. Kiern experienced only a few hours in combat but spent almost ten
years as a prisoner of war. After his release in 1973, he would joke that
the Air Force had become much smarter; it was impossible, he said, to find a
pilot dumb enough to fly with him. Asked to compare captivity in Southeast
Asia with his experience in World War II, Kiern said, "Captivity in Germany
was, rough, but at least I was treated like a human being. Captivity in
North Vietnam was unreal, unbelievable, not of this world."
On May 20, 1998, The NETWORK had the pleasure of meeting "Pop." He was one
of 280 former POWs in Dallas for the Silver Anniversary Reunion. One of the
highlights of our conversation was the statement by his wife, "We'll be
married 53 years on June 22."
===============================
From - Sat May 27 14:18:54 2000
Some sad news to pass on to all: Pop Kiern died Thursday evening.
Complications from a procedure plus all the other ailments he had been
fighting over the years. The funeral will be on Memorial Day at 11:00am at
Florida Memorial Gardens north of Melbourne. The funeral will be with full
military honors and a military flyby. (His daughter called the White House
and got permission to overfly the Kennedy restricted area). The family
requests no flowers. May God bless Pop and comfort Hazel and the family.
DV
==============================
The Plain Dealer Cleveland, OH
Tuesday, May 30, 2000
OBITUARIES
RICHARD KEIRN, WAR PRISONER IN GERMANY, NORTH VIETNAM
ALANA BARANICK
PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Retired Air Force Col. Richard P. Keirn, 75, an Akron native and former
Lorain resident who was one of only two Americans held prisoner in both
World War II and the Vietnam War, was buried yesterday at Florida Memorial
Gardens in Rockledge, Fla.
Col. Keirn, a resident of Satellite Beach, Fla., also held the distinction
of being the first American pilot to be downed by a surface-to-air missile.
He spent eight months as a prisoner of war in Germany and seven years in
North Vietnam prison camps.
He died Thursday at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla. His
funeral on Memorial Day was a tribute to all American military veterans,
according to his son, Steve of Tampa, Fla.
"It's the perfect ending to a great story about a true American hero," his
son said. "Today he was buried with military honors, a 21- gun salute and a
fighter pilot fly-by. Normally, you have to be a four-star general or above
to have a military fly-by."
As a youngster growing up in Akron, Col. Keirn knew he wanted to be a
pilot. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces after graduating from Central High
School in 1942.
He was a co-pilot of a B-17 and was bombing factories in Germany when his
aircraft was shot down on Sept. 11, 1944. He was held in the Stalag Luft 1
prison camp until the camp was liberated in May 1945.
Before his incarceration, he met his future wife, Hazel, who was born on
the Fourth of July and was serving in the Navy. After the war, Col. Keirn
returned home to Ohio with his bride, but he remained in the military as a
member of the Ohio Air National Guard's 164th Fighter Interceptor Squadron
in Mansfield.
As a civilian, he became a trooper for the State Highway Patrol. He was
sent to Lorain, where he served for one year. In 1949, he resigned from the
state patrol to become a boilermaker for the National Tube Co., which later
became the Lorain Works of U.S. Steel Corp.
In December 1956, Col. Keirn returned to active duty with the Air Force.
He volunteered for combat duty during the Vietnam War.
Col. Keirn was a command pilot with the 47th Tactical Air Command on July
1965, when his F-4C was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over North
Vietnam. He was captured almost immediately and remained imprisoned until
February 1973.
While in captivity, he was promoted from captain to major, then to
lieutenant colonel. After returning from Vietnam, he went to the Air War
College at Maxwell Air Force Base and was promoted to full colonel. He
retired in 1976.
Col. Keirn was a recipient of the Silver Star, Legion of Merit with Oak
Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leafs, Bronze Star
Medal with three Oak Leafs, five Purple Hearts and numerous other medals.
His autobiography, "Old Glory Is the Most Beautiful of All," which he
wrote with his wife, was published by Dorrance Publishing of Pittsburgh.
In addition to his wife and son, Col. Keirn is survived by his daughter,
Sherye McKenzie of Melbourne, Fla.; four grandchildren; and two sisters.
Donations may be made to Col. Keirn's Memorial Fund at Trinity
Presbyterian Church, 638 S. Patrick Dr., Satellite Beach, Fla. 32937.
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