On M
ay 24, for the first time, a US military aircraft touched down at Kampong Chhnang Province airfield in Cambodia, Pacific Air Forces said in a May 27 release. The aircraft, a C-130 from the Alaska Air National Guard’s 144th Airlift Squadron at Anchorage’s Kulis ANGB, flew 3,000 pounds of medical supplies in to the countryside airfield, which was built in 1975 under Pol Pot’s regime. The mission was for Operation Pacific Angel, a humanitarian-assistance effort run together with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and Royal Thai Air Force.
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
