Richard Paul (Pop) Keirn

Richard Keirn enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve on November 10, 1942, and was accepted into the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on February 15, 1943. He was awarded his pilot wings and promoted to Flight Officer on January 7, 1944, and began flying B-17 Flying Fortress bombers in the European Theater in August 1944. On September 11, 1944, Keirn's B-17 was shot down and he was taken as a Prisoner of War by the Germans. After spending 237 days in captivity, he was repatriated on May 5, 1945. Keirn received his commission as a 2nd Lt. in the Army Air Forces on May 17, 1946. He went into the Air Force Reserve on March 31, 1947, and joined the Ohio Air National Guard on June 3, 1948. Captain Keirn went back on active duty with the Air Force on December 10, 1956, and served as a fighter pilot at Langley AFB, Virginia, Kadena AB, Okinawa, Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina, and MacDill AFB, Florida, before flying combat missions in Southeast Asia with the 47th Tactical Fighter Squadron in July 1965. On July 24, 1965, Major Keirn was forced to eject from his stricken F-4C Phantom II and was captured the next day and taken as a Prisoner of War by the North Vietnamese.