NORTH, KENNETH WALTER

Name: Kenneth Walter North
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O3
Unit:                  Korat AB Thailand
Date of Birth: 1930
Home City of Record: Chappaqua NY
Date of Loss: 01 August 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 215000 North  1044900 East (Yen Bai on Red River)
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Missions: 33
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 0411

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: 730304 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).

KENNETH W. NORTH
Lieutenant Colonel - United States Air Force
Shot Down: August 1, 1966
Released: March 4, 1973

Colonel North is a native of Connecticut. He entered the USAF pilot training
program following his graduation from the University of Connecticut in 1953.
His first overseas assignment was in Japan where he spent three years.
Following a stateside tour of duty he was  assigned to Hickam Field in Hawaii.
Soon he was in Okinawa, flying F-105 D's. Eight months later he volunteered
for duty at KORAT AB in Thailand.

He flew thirty-three combat missions over North Vietnam and was shot down
north of Hanoi in August 1966.

"This period started a new life for me when I was to realize how brutal and
deceitful man could be and how hard and how often my faith in my country was
to be tested. The knowledge that my country was a great country and that
communism was a cancer helped me keep that faith. The strong, unshakeable
desire to come home with honor allowed me to do just that."

Colonel North plans to remain in the USAF and to stay in the tactical fighter
business. He is living with his wife, Carol, and four daughters in Wellfleet,
Massachusetts. Carol was very active in the POW-MIA effort where she helped to
improve conditions for the prisoners after 1969.

To the children of America, Colonel North says, "You have a right to be proud
of more than just American fighting men, you can be proud of America. In spite
of some of our ills which are too quickly and too frequently pointed out, we
are the greatest nation on earth. Be proud and help to build an even greater
country."

December 1996
Kenneth North retired from the United States Air Force as a Brig General. He
and his wife Carol reside in Maryland.