War's End

Six-year-old Scott Browning walks with his father, then-Capt. Ralph Browning, after Browning returned to his Orlando home after spending more than six years in a Hanoi prison camp during the Vietnam War. Scott was born while Browning was in prison.

Today marks the end of the Vietnam War. But for Capt. Ralph (Tom) Browning, the war ended when he was taken prisoner of war on July 8, 1966.

Captain Browning’s F-105D Thunderchief was hit by 85 mm anti-aircraft fire during a combat mission over North Vietnam. The aircraft caught fire and went out of control, forcing him to eject. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war for 2,412 days—more than six and a half years—before being released on February 12, 1973, as part of Operation Homecoming. After his return, Captain Browning was briefly hospitalized at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama to recover from his injuries and was reunited with his family in Orlando on March 2, 1973.

The next morning, March 3, I was assigned to photograph Browning at his home. When I arrived, I was told he wasn’t home but would be back soon as he was taking a walk with his son, born while he was a POW.

I never made it into the house. The return home was the best photo.

Interesting side note. The top photo is a copy of that day's United Press International photo transmission. I’d been a UPI photo stringer for several years and made sure they received the photo.

I would later become an Associated Press staffer when I was hired for the AP by Gene Blythe, who had hired me for the job at the Orlando Sentinel. Lightning does strike twice in the same place.