A C-130 transport from the Alaska Air National Guard’s 144th Airlift Squadron at Kulis Air National Guard Base on May 8 brought 39 US military personnel to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to participate in exercise Pacific Angel 10-2 that began Monday and runs through Saturday. This contingent of doctors, dentists, optometrists, medical technicians, and engineers will provide medical care to local Vietnamese in villages near Can Tho and will work to improve the indigenous medical infrastructure there. “This mission has been in planning for months and we’re all very excited to work with our Vietnamese military brethren and personnel from the [nongovernmental organizations],” said Lt. Col. Blair English, Pacific Angel 10-2 commander. US Pacific Command sponsors Pacific Angel exercises throughout its area of responsibility. The first Pacific Angel was held in Cambodia in May 2009. (Ho Chi Minh City report by Capt. Timothy Lundberg)
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.
