BRECKNER, WILLIAM JOHN JR.
RIP 02/16/2008
Name: William John Breckner, Jr.
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O5
Unit: 8 TFW
Date of Birth: 29 May 1933
Home City of Record: Sebring OH
Date of Loss: 30 July 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 210300 North  1055500 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D #7576
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 1905
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: 730329 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).
WILLIAM J. BRECKNER
Lieutenant Colonel - United States Air Force
Shot Down: July 30, 1972
Released: March 29, 1973
                                  
After attending Bowling Green and Ohio State Universities I entered Aviation
Cadet training and graduated in 1955. Upon completion of advance training at
Nellis AFB, I flew F-86H's and F1 00D's with the 417th T.F. squadron in
Europe. I returned in 1959 to an assignment in GCI then flew FlOlB's at
Lockbourne AFB, Ohio. This was followed by a three year tour of exchange duty
with the U.S. Navy flying A-4's. I was embarked in the ill-fated USS Forrestal
in July 1967 on Yankee Station and returned to combat aboard the USS Intrepid
in July 1968. I completed Air Command and Staff College in 1970 and, after
checking out in the F106, assumed command of Detachment #1, 87th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron at Volk Field, Wisconsin. After joining the 87th F.I.Sq.
at K.I. Sawyer AFB, I volunteered for another sea tour. I completed F-4
training at Homestead AFB and reported to the 435th T.F.Sq. in Thailand where
I served as the Operations Officer. I was shot down 30 July 1972 on a raid
over Hanoi.
After completion of my first combat tour I frequently speculated upon the
factors that may have accounted for my safe return home but did not provide
the same good fortune for my friends. For the next couple of years the war was
an ever present, yet somewhat secondary thing as I became deeply involved in
other duties. However, as time went on and the complexion of the war appeared
to be changing again, I found myself wanting to return once more. My reasons
were various: it was my turn again, personal professional gain, patriotism,
good friends in POW camps and others who had made the supreme sacrifice, and
other reasons I've never fully understood. While in prison camp I had plenty
of time to think how lucky I was to still be alive and, since my return, I
have reflected again on the whims of destiny. Why do some return and others
not? Well, it isn't all skill. Better men than I never came back. Perhaps
Ernest K. Gann said it all when he entitled his book Fate Is The Hunter.
===============================
William Breckner Jr. retired from the United States Air Force as a Major
General. He and his wife Cheryl resided in Colorado until her death August 11, 2007.
On 02/16/2008 Bud Breckner was killed in a single car accident. He was
returning home from a friend's house when his car left the road and rolled
over. The coroner's office reported that he died instantly.

==========================

http://www.gazette.com/articles/breckner_33264___article.html/military_colorado.html

Ex-fighter pilot was active in Colorado

February 17, 2008 - 7:29PM
William “Bud” Breckner never ran out of energy.

After retiring from the Air Force as a major general, the former fighter pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war stayed active with numerous community and military organizations.

The 74-year-old planned to go skiing at Breckenridge next weekend, and he loved riding his Harley, said his son, Rand Breckner, 41.
“He was constantly involved in something,” Breckner’s son said Sunday.

Bud Breckner died in a car crash along Colorado Highway 105 early Saturday morning while driving home to Monument after visiting a friend. He lost control on a curve and slid into trees.
He loved the Colorado Springs area, and he loved the United States, his son said.

“That’s why he put so much of his retirement time invested in this community,” Rand Breckner said. “He was deeply proud of being an American — his favorite country on Earth, of course.”

A native of Ohio, Breckner began his career as an Air Force fighter pilot in 1955. Ten years later, he flew 100 missions off the coast of North Vietnam as an exchange pilot with the Navy, racking up 219 carrier landings on the USS Intrepid.

He returned to southeast Asia in 1972 as operations officer for the 435th Tactical Squadron, flying F-4 Phantoms.

On July 30 of that year, Breckner’s plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile while over Hanoi, and he spent nine months as a prisoner of war before being released.

Rand Breckner, then 6, remembers seeing his 6-foot-2-inch dad come home skinny at 150 pounds. Rand’s sister, Kristen, was 4 at the time.
Their mother and Breckner’s wife, Cheryl Breckner, died in August.

After returning from Vietnam, Breckner bounced back to spend the next 14 years in Air Force management, including commanding the Air Force Interceptor Weapons School in Florida.

After graduating from the National War College, he was assigned to the Air Force Academy in the late 1970s, where he served as deputy commandant and later as vice commandant of cadets.

Other assignments followed, culminating in his being named commander of the 17th Air Force, based at Sembach Air Base in Germany.

His son said Breckner had liked Colorado Springs so much he decided to return here when he retired.

During his retirement, Breckner stayed involved by joining military groups at the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce.

“He’s been a member of the Military Affairs Council for a long time and the Defense Mission Task Force,” said Brian Binn, president of the chamber’s Military Affairs Division. “He was a very big supporter of the military and the community.”

Breckner also joined the Colorado Springs Airport advisory board, which, during his time there, planned the military arrival and departure facility, Binn said.

Breckner was also involved in the development of the Colorado Springs Airport Business Park, fellow board member Wally Miller said.

“He’s just a tremendous fellow and one of the strongest community contributors that I’ve known,” Miller said.

Breckner participated in numerous other organizations, including AFA booster groups and pilot organizations.

A command pilot with 5,100 hours in fighter aircraft, he was the recipient of many medals. Among them: The Silver Star, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

========================

AIR FORCE Magazine Online
Journal of the Air Force Association

Daily Report              

Wednesday February 20, 2008

Former Vietnam POW Breckner Dies in Car Accident: Retired Maj. Gen.
William J. Breckner Jr., 74, was killed Feb. 16 in a single-vehicle
car crash on Colorado Highway 105, according to various news
reports. He was on his way to his home in Monument, Colo. Breckner
retired from the Air Force in 1986, last serving as commander of
17th Air Force. He received his commission and wings in the
Aviation Cadet program in 1955, initially flying F-86, F-100, and
F-101 aircraft. In an exchange program with the Navy, he flew A-4s
off the USS Intrepid during the Vietnam War. While flying an F-4 on
a return tour in Southeast Asia, Breckner's aircraft took a
surface-to-air missile hit, leaving him a prisoner of war from 1972
to March 1973. After the war, he served in a variety of command and
staff positions, taking charge of 17th Air Force at Sembach AB,
Germany in August 1984.

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