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I interviewed retired Air Force , 

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Colonel Leroy Stutz . He was 

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a Vietnam prisoner of war for 

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over six years shot down uh 

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25 miles north of Hanoi on 

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December 2nd , 1966 taken into 

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captivity and was held there for 

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2284 days . This is how 

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much he left the Air Force . So even 

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after he was shot down , repatriated 

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after those six years wanted to go fly 

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again , but because of all of his 

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sustained injuries could not . So then 

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was , I guess , retrained 

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and became a commander for maintenance . 

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And that's how he retired out of the 

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Air Force was as a maintenance 

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commander . And now he's in Oklahoma 

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City with his wife and they've been 

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there ever since his retirement . It 

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was a , it was a really 

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valuable experience getting to go out 

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and meet Colonel Stutz and his wife , 

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Karen . He also had the I love me room 

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that we got to go in and see not only 

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all of his accolades of a 30 year Air 

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Force career , but , you know , he was 

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bringing out , I mean , he still , he 

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was given the pajamas , uh that he wore 

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while in captivity . So he showed us 

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his pajamas , he showed us , um , the 

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small wasn't tin but almost like a 

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stone cup that he was able to take home 

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or snuck home , um , that he was 

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drinking and eating out of . Um , so 

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kind of surreal to hear the stories 

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of , you know , the cup that he would 

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use for six years in captivity . And 

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now he was just sitting on his desk 

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shelf . I think probably what left the 

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greatest impression was his 

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fortitude and resiliency in that , 

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you know , one of the questions I had 

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asked him was , how did you , how do 

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you prepare ? Because this is now 10 

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years into the Vietnam War . So the 

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pilots are knowledgeable and very 

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threat , aware , um , the likelihood of 

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getting shot down and becoming a 

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prisoner of war . And I was like , how 

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did you mentally prepare ? And it was , 

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he was like , well , there was a job to 

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do and we just did it .