Captain Charlie Plumb stepped onto the runway of Travis Air Force base in Fairfield on Friday, the same runway he'd stepped onto 50 years ago after spending nearly six years in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam.
"We all kissed the ground in here," said Plumb as the memory washed over him.
Plumb was among 600 American prisoners of war liberated from captivity in Hanoi in March of 1973 in what was known as Operation Homecoming, a prisoner exchange brokered by the U.S. and North Vietnam.
On Friday, the Air Force held a ceremony to commemorate the air operation that sent C-141 transport planes onto North Vietnam runways to fetch the men home. 258 of the evacuated POWs first stepped onto the asphalt of Travis.
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"It was a joyful day that we flew out of there," said Plumb, "back home and here to Travis Air Force Base where we put our feet on American soil for the first time."
Back then, among those there to greet the returning men was Lieutenant General John Gonge, who was then in-charge of the base and coordinated the rescue flights. Now 101-years-old, Gonge recalled that day on the Travis base tarmac, when he shook hands with each pow as they exited the plane.
"We were so proud of all of them," Gonge said. "I can't imagine what they went through. I at least got to be part of bringing them home."
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Even as the transport planes landed on the North Vietnam runways to retrieve their human cargo, the sensation of going home still seemed unreal men who'd spent years in hostile prison camps. Veteran David Allwine spent two years in a camp nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton, before his liberation.
"When they announced we just cleared Vietnam airspace, there wasn't a dry eye in there," said Allwine. "They were all clapping, it was just a fantastic feeling."
During Friday's ceremony, the air base renamed its terminal after Operation Homecoming. Air Force personnel also placed a plaque on the runway commemorating the spot where the men de-planed 50 years ago.
The moment was bittersweet for former prisoner of war Tony Marshall whose fighter jet crashed in Vietnam where he was captured and spent nine months in captivity. Marshall recalled coming home to a hero's welcome and at the same time learning other troops coming home from Vietnam didn't receive as warm a greeting.
"We were very special, treated very well," Marshall said. "Whereas they were spat upon and called 'baby killers.' It was a very stark contrast."
Plumb, whose fighter jet was shot down over Vietnam on his 75th mission at the end of his tour, said he never lost hope during his 2,103 days in the Hanoi Hilton. Over the years he mused about how someone would break the news he was going home. Who would tell him? How would he know it was real? Even as the plane spirited her precious cargo home it didn't seem like reality.
But he recalled on the plane ride home the pilot had asked to make a quick loop around the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back to Travis. That's when it sank in.
"It wasn't real till we circled the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco," Plumb remembered, "just before we landed in Travis that we knew we were home."
