nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
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"COLUMBUS, Ohio -
Nearly half a century of public service is over. Tom Moe has retired.
Most recently he was the director of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services, but his history is very rich.
He was once an Air Force fighter pilot with 85 combat missions. But there was one mission in 1968 in Vietnam that changed his life forever.
His jet was blown out of the air and while he ejected to safety, he spent three days evading the Vietcong in the jungle, only to be captured and held for more than five years in the prison known as the Hanoi Hilton.
"It reinforced actually things that I already had inside of me. I have a deep personal faith. I'm probably best described as stubborn, but I'd like to say resolute. That sounds better," he said.
Right next to him was a naval pilot named John McCain.
Although they were separated by only ten feet, they never spoke while in captivity -- never spoke until their release.
"On the airplane coming home, we came home on the same airplane. Our names were right next to each other on the manifest, McCain and Moe, and we came off the airplane together in the Philippines," he said. "We were next door neighbors and my view on John McCain and all my buddies was through a hole in the door. So when we met each other in person we'd often joke and we'd make a circle with our fingers and say, 'Now I remember you.'"
He also said he would like to return to Vietnam and find the wreckage of the Air Force pilot who tried to save him while in the jungle when hiding from the Vietcong.
That pilot was shot down and was killed, but his body and the wreckage have never been found. "
"COLUMBUS, Ohio -
Nearly half a century of public service is over. Tom Moe has retired.
Most recently he was the director of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services, but his history is very rich.
He was once an Air Force fighter pilot with 85 combat missions. But there was one mission in 1968 in Vietnam that changed his life forever.
His jet was blown out of the air and while he ejected to safety, he spent three days evading the Vietcong in the jungle, only to be captured and held for more than five years in the prison known as the Hanoi Hilton.
"It reinforced actually things that I already had inside of me. I have a deep personal faith. I'm probably best described as stubborn, but I'd like to say resolute. That sounds better," he said.
Right next to him was a naval pilot named John McCain.
Although they were separated by only ten feet, they never spoke while in captivity -- never spoke until their release.
"On the airplane coming home, we came home on the same airplane. Our names were right next to each other on the manifest, McCain and Moe, and we came off the airplane together in the Philippines," he said. "We were next door neighbors and my view on John McCain and all my buddies was through a hole in the door. So when we met each other in person we'd often joke and we'd make a circle with our fingers and say, 'Now I remember you.'"
He also said he would like to return to Vietnam and find the wreckage of the Air Force pilot who tried to save him while in the jungle when hiding from the Vietcong.
That pilot was shot down and was killed, but his body and the wreckage have never been found. "
