Name: Jerry Donald Driscoll

DRISCOLL, JERRY DONALD

Name: Jerry Donald Driscoll

Rank/Branch: O2/US Air Force

Unit: 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron

Date of Birth: 21 February 1940

Home City of Record: Chicago IL

Date of Loss: 24 April 1966

Country of Loss: North Vietnam

Loss Coordinates: 212900N 1060700E (XJ156758)

Status (in 1973: Released POW

Category:

Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D

Other Personnel In Incident: William E. Cooper (missing) in same flight

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more

of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,

correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated

loss coordinate typo - P.O.W. NETWORK 2002.

REMARKS: 730212 RELSD BY DRV

SYNOPSIS: On April 24, 1966, a multi-plane strike force departed Korat

Airbase, Thailand on a strike mission on a highway-railroad bridge north of

Hanoi. The target was a vital link, bearing traffic coming down from China.

The Squadron Commander (and commander of the mission), LtCol. William E.

Cooper was in one flight of four F105s. In another of the flights was 1Lt.

Jerry D. Driscoll.

As the first flight approached the target, Cooper's F105D was hit by a

surface-to-air missile (SAM). The plane subsequently broke in half, and the

front section, with canopy intact, was observed as it fell into a flat spin.

Witnessed did not see Cooper eject and and believed the he went down with

the aircraft, but there was doubt enough that the Air Force determined him

Missing in Action rather than killed.

Just afterwards, 1Lt. Jerry D. Driscoll (code-name Pecan 4) was inbound to

the target, about ten miles north, going approximately 550 knots (about 600

miles per hour) when his aircraft was struck in the tail by anti-aircraft

fire, causing it to catch fire. Flames were blowing out the back twice as

long as the aircraft. Others in the flight radioed to Driscoll that he was

on fire, and he immediately prepared to eject as the aircraft commenced a

roll. Driscoll punched out at about 1000 feet, with the aircraft nearly

inverted, and as a result, his parachute barely opened before he was on the

ground. He had removed his parachute and was starting to take off his heavy

flight suit when he was surrounded by about twenty North Vietnamese and

captured.

Driscoll was moved immediately to the "Heartbreak Hotel" in Hanoi where his

interrogation (and torture) began. Driscoll was a POW for the next seven

years, and was released in Operation Homecoming on February 12, 1973.

Just before his release, one returning POW was told by his interrogators

that LtCol. Cooper had died in the crash of the aircraft. At least one

intelligence report, however, indicates that Cooper was captured alive. The

U.S. believes the Vietnamese could account for Cooper and his name has been

included on lists brought before the Vietnamese in recent years as one of

scores of "discrepancy cases" it is felt can be resolved.

When the Peace Accords were signed ending American involvement in Vietnam,

591 American prisoners were released. Experts at the time expressed dismay

that "some hundreds" expected to be released were not, yet only perfunctory

efforts to secure the release of the others were made. In our haste to leave

Indochina, we abandoned some of our best men.

Shockingly, many authorities now believe, based on over 10,000 reports

relating to these missing Americans, that there are still hundreds alive in

captivity. Whether Cooper could be among them is unknown, but what seems

certain is that if even one is still alive, we have a moral obligation to

bring him home.

William E. Cooper was awarded the Air Force Cross, Distinguished Flying

Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with 7 oak leaf clusters and the

Purple Heart. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel during the period he

was maintained Missing in Action. He is married and has five children.

Jerry D. Driscoll graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1963, and was

promoted to the rank of Captain during his captivity.

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).

JERRY D. DRISCOLL

Captain - United States Air Force

Shot Down: April 24, 1966

Released: February 12, 1973

My military service started when I entered the United States Air Force Academy

in June 1959, graduating on June 5, 1963. In October 1965 I volunteered to go

to Southeast Asia. On April 24, 1966, on my 11 2th combat mission, my F-105

jet fighter bomber was shot down. When I was on the ground my helmet was

ripped off and I had cuts all over. Twenty people surrounded me, some with

guns and some with bamboo sticks. You know, a sharpened bamboo stock will kill

you as fast as a gun. I had a sprained ankle and a twisted knee. I never once

saw a doctor, but the body has great recuperative powers when given a chance.

On July 6, 1966 I was the head of the second group of the infamous "street

march". It got out of hand. They were a raging mob, throwing sticks at us. I

was punched and kicked; it got so bad it was even a matter of survival for our

guards.

There are still circular scars on my wrists which will serve as a life-long

reminder of the torture endured in the ancient French walled prison in the

center of Hanoi. This was the one dubbed the Hanoi Hilton.

I had learned at the Air Force Academy never to make a harmful statement about

your country, but I was also told "Don't let them do any permanent damage to

you." When I kept telling my captors I would never sign their statements, they

forced me to sit on a pile of bricks for 24 and 48 hour periods, hands

handcuffed behind my back and then hoisted up to the shoulder blades. They

would then twist the handcuff chains as tight as they could. Then they would

make me lie on my stomach while they pounded the handcuffs tighter with their

feet. If you brought your hands down at all, the handcuffs would cut deep into

your wrists.

Once I sat like that for 90 hours, with no sleep. I passed out. I still would

not sign, so they used ropes to bring the elbows together behind my back and

cut off the circulation. I lasted six days like that, with the cuffs and

ropes. That's when I thought I would go crazy-I signed an apology for dropping

bombs over their land.

I kept in shape with push-ups and lifting weights made by rolling a bunch of

our bed mats (made of elephant grass) together. We were given three cigarets a

day, and later, six. That was the only warmth in the place. There was no heat

even in the winter. It got very cold.

When one is placed in the situation we experienced in North Vietnam, there

comes the great, painful realization that what we all take so much for granted

is no longer available. In such a situation you can't help but appreciate what

we have in this great country of ours. That appreciation became even greater

when, after seven years of living under Communism, I returned to find a very

grateful nation welcoming us as we stepped off the airplane.

There is but one word which best describes the United States of

America-FREEDOM!

Jerry Driscoll retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel. He and

his wife Sharon reside in Minnesota.