PERRY, Ga. — Brig. Gen. Jim Sehorn, a retired veteran of the Air Force and the conflict in Vietnam, was the guest speaker at the Memorial Day Ceremony at Perry Memorial Gardens on Monday morning. The event was a joint effort between Watson-Hunt Funeral Home, Perry Memorial Gardens, The Veterans of Foreign Wars Walter B. Whitten Post 6126 and its respective VFW Auxiliary Post 6126 — both out of Perry.
Sehorn was born in 1940. As a native of Forest Grove, Oregon, he was commissioned through the Air Force ROTC Program at Oregon State University on June 2, 1963, beginning his active-duty service on Sept. 27, 1963.
He spoke on his combat flight experience, specifically regarding his time aboard the F-105 Thunderchief and flying combat missions with the 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand.
During one mission in November 1967, he was forced to eject from his aircraft over North Vietnam. He was captured by enemy forces on Dec. 14, 1967 and held as a prisoner of war for 1,917 days.
“I guess if I had to put a title on the thoughts that I’d like to share with you today, it would most appropriately be probably something like ‘Reflections of an Ex-Con,’” Sehorn said, laughing. “Or more poignantly and realistically, I think, would be ‘The Best Tour I Ever Served’.”
He said that while that tour was the “best he ever served,” he also added it was the one “he’d least like to repeat.” The men with whom he served and their dedication to one another and their country back home made the experience fulfilling for Sehorn.
“In North Vietnam, for five years and three months, I was imprisoned with some of the most dedicated warriors you would ever want to know,” he said. “Stripped of every visible means of defense and left only with what was in the heart and soul — we engaged an enemy who found their only advantage in lies, deceptions, beatings, tortures and half-truths.”
He said following two-and-a-half days of torture, his captors asked for the names of the rest of his crew and fellow squadrons.
“With the steel-trap mind of the American fighter pilot, I responded to their request: ‘The commander is John Wayne. The flight commanders are Pee Wee Reese, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Bob Feller,’” he said, smiling.
He said the enemy forces had complete rosters of all the squadrons stationed in Southeast Asia, but their objective was to break the will to resist held by Sehorn and his comrades.
He said he and his fellow POWs fought to maintain their constitutional rights — even within their prison cells. This included the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly among others.
They banded together and “taught by lecture and listening,” using the “concentration of one man’s gray matter to another.”
They worked to offer postmaster classes, mathematics of all sorts and a variety of languages among other subjects. Sehorn said he taught a forest management course since that was what he studied during his undergraduate years.
He said it was often quiet, and no fighting or sirens were to be heard of for a good length of time.
“Then in the spring of 1972, on a Sunday, the air raid sirens went off, the anti-aircraft guns began to fire and the long drought was over,” Sehorn said. “Throughout that summer, the raids continued — then towards fall, the Vietnamese seemed to be getting tense and nervous.”
Late one night in December 1972, the air raid sirens went off and the guns started firing and the bombs began dropping. He said this continued for a few nights.
Eventually, he and his fellow POWs were allowed to leave on March 14, 1973 following the efforts of Operation Homecoming. Buses came to the camp, picked them up and they were taken to an exchange point to board transport aircraft and head home.
At the Memorial Day event, Perry Mayor Randall Walker spoke on behalf of the city and Mayor Pro Tem Willie King.
“This is a very special morning having the opportunity again to meet in person and remembering all the men and women who gave their lives so we may live in a country where we enjoy freedom each and every day,” Walker said. “[Here is] a special ‘thank you’ to all the members of the VFW Post 6126.
“Your commitment of your time and energy to make this event possible — without your commitment it would not have been possible. It’s been several years since we have enjoyed this opportunity to remember the fallen.”
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