TANNER, CHARLES NELS

Name: Charles Nels Tanner
Rank/Branch: O4/United States Navy, pilot
Unit: VF 154
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Covington TN
Date of Loss: 09 October 1966
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 203100N 1055000E
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B #152993
Missions: 125
Incident No: 0490

Other Personnel in Incident: Ross Terry, returnee

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK March 1997 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).
UPDATE - 09/95 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

CHARLES N. TANNER
Commander - United States Navy
Shot Down: October 9, 1966
Released: March 4, 1973

I was flying an F-4B from VF-154 off the USS Coral Sea. Commander Ross Terry
was flying as my Radar Intercept Officer. We were shot down and captured
near Phu Ly, North Vietnam on 9 October 1966. The internment was typical,
with torture, solitary, etc. We were not injured prior to capture. We were
released March 14, 1973.

My wife, Sara Ann, my daughter, Cyndi (19), and my son, Charley (13) live in
Covington, Tennessee. Sara Ann and I were born here, and met and married
here.

Editor's Note: At an address before the Tennessee State Legislature shortly
after his return, Commander Tanner said, "We Americans take our great land
too much for granted. Some are so busy criticizing that they cannot see its
greatness. Faith has been reserved, in many cases, for material things. You
can lose every material thing you possess in one split-second. I have
experienced this and I have found that there is only one thing that cannot
be taken away from you. That is faith - in God and in Country."

December 1996
Charles Tanner retired from the United States Navy as a Captain. He and his
wife Sara reside in Tennessee.