NORRIS, THOMAS ELMER

Name: Thomas Elmer Norris
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O3
Unit:
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Godfrey IL
Date of Loss: 12 August 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212100 North 1054200 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno:

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).

THOMAS E. NORRIS
Major - United States Air Force
Shot Down: August 12, 1967
Released: March 14, 1973

An open letter to my friends:

I want to acknowledge and thank those whose efforts helped the POWs in
Vietnam. The millions of letters, petitions, and telegrams sent to the
Vietnamese delegations in Paris, and to the other countries, influenced our
captors to improve our treatment. Your united and individual efforts made the
difference between life and death in some cases and enabled us to maintain our
health.

Now I want to join hands with you in recognizing our courageous young men and
women who served in Southeast Asia through those long years. Many of our
Veterans suffered wounds while others made the supreme sacrifice for their
country. I am proud to have served with them in the Armed Forces of the United
States. And yet our jobs are not complete. Before I can truly feel that the
conflict is over, every missing American must be accounted for. I extend my
heartfelt thanks to my fellow Americans whose aroused public opinion brought
aid and comfort to us and set a precedent not to be forgotten by the POWs, or
by history.

In Gratitude.
Tom Norris
Major USAF

November 1996
Thomas Norris retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel. He and
his wife Linda reside in Texas.

In January 1996, Col. Norris received the following letter, through the
National League of Families:

"During my recent visit to the Ukraine I came across captain's ID cards held
by a military memorabilia dealer (a colonel in Reserves) who gave me the
copies of these two documents and assured me that he will send me the
originals if I succeed in locating the captain. If Mr. Norris is interested
in getting those two ID cards (ID card # 6377593, issued to Capt. Norris on
January 10, 1967 by the Armed Forces of the United States and the Geneva
Convention Identification Card) he should notify me to this effect and I
will be delighted to write the Ukraine and request that they be sent to me.
I hope the chap in Ukraine will keep his promise."

Sincerely,
(signed)
Zenon Iwasykiw

Zenon also received a letter from the POW/MIA office of the Pentagon hoping
they could speak to his contact in the Ukraine.

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