Showing posts with label Khemer Air Force. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khemer Air Force. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2023

Saturday, March 17, 1973. Treason and Sad Reunions.

Khemer Air Force pilot Cpt. So Patra, son-in-law of former King Norodom Sihanouk, bombed the presidential palace in Phnom Penh, killing 36 people.  He then flew his T-28 to Hainan Island, a Chinese possession.

Vietnamese, not Cambodian, T-28.

Arrests followed.

A large release of the few remaining US POWs in Vietnam began, including the release of Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm of the U.S. Air Force.

A remarkable photograph, it depicts Stirm's 15-year-old daughter greeting her father with the rest of the family behind them.

Stirm had already received a Dear John letter from his wife, Loretta, informing him of her intent to divorce him.  They did divorce.  She died in 2010 from cancer.

His children all had the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs hanging in their homes.  He couldn't bear to.