Kirk ’50B: VMI’s Most Decorated Living Graduate By Jim Dittrich ’76, Alumni Association Historian
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Thomas H. Kirk Jr. ’50B flew in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. During his 67th mission, targeting the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi, his aircraft was damaged. He was captured by North Vietnamese forces and spent the next five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war.—Photos courtesy Jim Dittrich ’76, Alumni Association historian. On Oct. 28, 1967, 38-year-old Thomas H. Kirk Jr. ’50B left Takhli Air Base in Thailand flying an F-105 Thunderchief aircraft. He was heading for Hanoi, the most heavily defended city in the world. Kirk led 48 bombers, plus supporting aircraft, in the largest air attack on Hanoi during the Vietnam War. His target: The Paul Doumer Bridge (now called Long Bien Bridge). A seasoned pilot, Kirk had flown 50 missions in the Korean War. In Vietnam, the heavy flak, enemy fighters, and Russian-made surface-to-air missiles were, in his words, “terrifying.” The mission was his 67th. Over the target at 14,000 feet, he called, “Roll-in,” and all planes dove for the bridge. Approximately halfway down on his dive bomb run, he felt an explosion in the rear of his aircraft. His fire warning light was on, but he stayed on task and dropped two 3,000-pound bombs on target. The bombs knocked down the bridge’s span—but Kirk’s aircraft was damaged severely, and he was losing his hydraulics. He needed to get to the jungle 40 miles south of Hanoi to be rescued by helicopter. He made it to around 27 miles. Raising his armrests, he pulled the ejection trigger. The 600 knots per hour ejection knocked him out and yanked off his helmet. When he came to, he was blind from the wind blast and had a massive head cut. He wanted
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to die by suicide, so he pulled out his weapon but lost consciousness again. When he regained consciousness the second time, Vietnamese villagers were beating him. Another five minutes of this, he thought, and he would be dead—but North Vietnamese soldiers showed up, and the beating stopped. At about this time, his sight returned. The soldiers bound, gagged, and blindfolded him. They tossed him into a metal truck and took him to the Hoa Lo Prison—also called the Hanoi Hilton. Kirk was placed in a small room, bound and blindfolded, where he was kept for two to three days (he’s not sure which) without food—just water. The first night, he was carried to a small medical space where a French-trained doctor known as “the Cat” looked him over and commented, “You are badly injured and will probably die.” After his captors moved him to a cell, he noted that from his knees to his waist, his body was burgundy from tumbling during the ejection. He could not walk for the next two months. Next, he was taken to the interrogation room, where two North Vietnamese officers waited. The first stated, “Kirk, you are not a prisoner of war. You are a war criminal and will be tried and shot. What is your unit, and what tactics did you use?” Kirk followed the U.S. military’s Code of
Conduct and gave only his name, rank, and serial number. After refusing to answer any further questions, the senior North Vietnamese officer said, “Kirk, you are very stupid, and it will be difficult for you here.” At that point, the officers turned him over to an expert torturer. Under his direction, Kirk was tied up and brutally tortured for three days. The third day, in intense pain, he broke down and confessed, but he had no idea what he said to his captors. Everyone reached a breaking point under torture, and Kirk was not ashamed; he did his best. After the war, the Code of Conduct wording was changed. It now reads, “I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability.” Kirk’s worst period came after his captors placed him in a cell by himself. He had zero contact with any other prisoner. After a few weeks, he became so discouraged he again thought of suicide; he had never felt so low. Kirk prayed to God to help him. After his prayers, he felt at peace and like he could handle whatever the enemy threw at him. Soon, he was placed in a cell with three other prisoners for 14 months. His companionship ended when a guard hit him in the head with a heavy set of keys. This was incredibly painful, and he punched the guard, leading to 10 days of severe torture while he sat on a stool and two solitary years in a cell by himself. In total, Kirk spent five-and-a-half years as a POW with two years in solitary confinement. How did he occupy his mind while totally alone? He walked 4 miles a day in his 8-foot-long cell and did physical exercises as much as his starved body would allow (POWs survived on 600-800 calories a day and were always hungry). Kirk was 175 pounds when he was captured; his weight dropped to 90 pounds while a POW. He said he pretended to play the flute, doing scales and fingering for hours. He also recalled “books, stories, and even poetry” from his youth. He calculated things like mortgages in his head. Finally, he thought about faith and spiritual things, making plans for the future and how he would live his life. Then, there was the tap code. He tapped on the wall using a 25-letter alphabet and communicated with men in adjacent cells. They passed news from new POW arrivals to guidance from the senior officers. Prisoners caught tapping were
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