LATHAM, JAMES Name: James Latham Rank/Branch: O3/United States Air Force, pilot Unit: 435th TFS Date of Birth: Home City of Record: Missions Hills KS Date of Loss: 05 October 1972 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 171200 North 1065000 East Status (in 1973): Returnee Category: Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4E Missions: 378 Other Personnel in Incident: Richard Bates 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). UPDATE - 09/95 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO JAMES M. LATHAM Captain - United States Air Force Shot Down: October 5, 1972 Released: March 29, 1973 I have lived most of my 26 years in the Kansas City area in the suburb of Mission Hills. My father is an M.D., practicing pediatrics, while my mother raised two other children besides myself A younger brother Dennet, now attending Kansas University as a graduate student in architecture, and a sister Janice, married recently to a Navy man, completing my family. I attended Kansas State University where I graduated in 1969 with a degree in psychology. I was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and lettered three years on the K-State swimming team. Four years of participation in the ROTC produced a commission in the U.S. Air Force after graduation and started my career as a military officer. I attended Pilot Training at Vance AFB, after which I received a Southeast Asia assignment in the OV10. Between August 1970 and August 1971 I was stationed at Nakon Phanon Royal Thai AFB and worked as a NAIL FAC (Forward Air Controller). Following this tour I received an assignment to the F-4. After my training in Florida, I returned to Thailand, this time to the WOLFPACK - 8th TAC Fighter Wing at Ubon. After my training in the F-4 I was married to Sue Beach of Piercevile, Kansas, whom I had been dating since our days at K-State three years before We were married May 13th and two weeks later I left for Southeast Asia. While flying out of Ubon I began working as a WOLF FAC FAST Forward Air Controller. On 5 October 1972, while operating near Dong Hoi City in the lower panhandle of North Vietnam, Navigator Lt. Richard (Crunch) Bates and I were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery. We ejected safely from the aircraft and were captured immediately. The next five weeks we were kept separately in various bunkers and finally joined for a long truck ride to Hanoi which lasted three weeks. When finally put in with other Americans, I spent time in the Hilton and the Zoo until released on March 29. During my brief period as a POW many things became apparent to me. But the one that really made an impression on me was the value of Freedom. I'm afraid people will never know how valuable freedom is until they have to live without it. After being held prisoner for four weeks in lower North Vietnam, the frustrations of captivity really got to me and I attempted to escape. Although I was free for only six or seven hours and the punishment received upon recapture was brutal I became aware for the first time why men were willing to give their lives to be free. December 1996 James Latham retired from the United States Air Force as a Brig General. He and his wife Carol Sue reside in Virginia.