PERKINS, GLENDON WILLIAM
Name: Glendon William Perkins
Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force
Unit: 41st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Takhli AB TH
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Orlando FL (family in Little Rock AR)
Date of Loss: 20 July 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 215058N 1051657E (WK292160)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: EB66C
Other Personnel in Incident: Lawrence Barbay; Norman A. McDaniel; Edwin L.
Hubbard; William H. Means (all released POWs); Craig R. Nobert (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK.
REMARKS: 730212 RELSD BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: The Douglas EB66C Skywarrior was outfitted as an electronic warfare
aircraft which carried roughly 5 tons of electronic gear in addition to its
flight crew of three and technical personnel. The EB66C featured a pressurized
capsule installed in the bomb bay, that accommodated four technicians whose
responsibility was to operate electronic reconnaissance gear.
On July 20, 1966, an EB66C was dispatched from the 41st Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron at Takhli Airbase in Thailand on an electronic
countermeasure mission over North Vietnam. The crew and technicians that day
included Capt. Lawrence Barbay, Capt. Glendon W. Perkins, Capt. Norman A.
McDaniel, Capt. William H. Means Jr., 1Lt. Edward L. Hubbard, and 1Lt. Craig
R. Nobert. Nobert served as the electronics warfare officer on the flight.
The flight was normal to the target area near Tuyen Quang, Quang Bac Thai
Province, North Vietnam. At this point, the aircraft was orbited east/west.
During this maneuver, the aircraft was hit by hostile fire. Two parachutes
were seen to eject the aircraft, after which the aircraft descended and
disintegrated.
In the spring of 1973, 591 Americans were released from prison camps in
Vietnam, including most of the crew of the Skywarrior lost on July 20, 1966.
They had been held in various POW camps in and around Hanoi for nearly seven
years. Only Nobert remained Missing in Action.
For 24 years, the Vietnamese have denied knowledge of the fate of Craig R.
Nobert, even though the U.S. believes there is a good possibility he was
captured and died in captivity. On January 18, 1978, the Department of the Air
Force declared Craig Nobert dead, based on no specific information he was
still alive.
Disturbing testimony was given to Congress in 1980 that the Vietnamese
"stockpiled" the remains of Americans to return at politically advantageous
times. Could Nobert be waiting, in a casket, for just such a moment?
Even more disturbing are the nearly 10,000 reports received by the U.S.
relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia. Many authorities who have
examined this information (largely classified), have reluctantly come to the
conclusion that many Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia. Could Nobert
be among these?
Perhaps the most compelling questions when remains are returned are, "Is it
really who they say it is?", and "How -- and when -- did he die?" As long as
reports continue to be received which indicate Americans are still alive in
Indochina, we can only regard the return of remains as a politically expedient
way to show "progress" on accounting for American POW/MIAs. As long as reports
continue to be received, we must wonder how many are alive.
As long as even one American remains alive, held against his will, we must do
everything possible to bring him home -- alive.
During their captivity, Perkins, Barbay and McDaniel were promoted to the rank
of Major. Hubbard was promoted to the rank of Captain. Means was promoted to
the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Craig R. Nobert was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he was
maintained missing.
Norman A. McDaniel resided in Camp Springs, Maryland in early 1990.
William H. Means, Jr. died in 1986 as a result of illness stemming from his
incarceraton in Vietnam.
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
GLENDON W. PERKINS
Major - United States Air Force
Shot Down: July 20, 1966
Released: February 12, 1973
"I'll never forget what they did. But I don't want to be filled with hate and
bitterness or anything like that. I would be a burden to my family. I look at
it as an experience. It was six and a half years in a lifetime. That's not
really that long. The wounds have healed leaving the scars, yet the mental
humiliation and physical abuses were hard to submerge."
After ejecting from a flaming plane which was shot down over North Vietnam,
2,399 days were spent in numerous cells in four prisons. "The Communists use
physical abuse as well as propaganda to fight their wars. We weren't treated
like prisoners of war, we were treated like criminals. The Communists thrive
on lies and distortions. They even tortured me so I would play the organ for
photographers and then it would be used to make it appear as if church
services were allowed and they were not."
However, his imprisonment is past, and Major Perkins is ready to lead a normal
life, to "get back to being just another American." He plans to continue his
education, because with all the years with nothing to read but propaganda
books, education has become very important; he will study for a degree "not
for credits, but to broaden me."
He returned to a decent, united family made extraordinary by events. His
wife's mother had died the week before he came home and his own mother was
gravely ill. Both had been very supportive of Major Perkin's family while he
was away. His wife, Kay, had worked in the POW movement, and had tried through
giving speeches to groups and giving stories to the media to keep the POW's
plight alive. His children, Ed, Paul, Cindy, and Steven revealed their
maturity and strength to adjust when their father returned, "It's like Daddy
was never gone."
As for disappointments when he came home, there were none. Even the fact that
Kay had decorated the room in a flowerly way pleased him - just as long as it
is not bamboo, he commented. The reception was heartwarming. "It proved once
again all our faith we had in our country was right. Our people are the
greatest people in the world.
"Life used to be a rat race. All the time trying to make money to buy
things-one loses sight of the family. I learned you don't need much and that
the values of life are family, faith in God and fellow man. These are things
you can't buy. They have to be developed in the home." He and Kay plan to do
this together.
He continues to support the value of the military. Twenty of his thirty eight
years have been in the military. "It doesn't take anything out of me to help.
There's rest in holy work."
Glendon Perkins retired from the United States Air Force as a Lt. Colonel.
He and his wife Kay reside in Florida.
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