Maintaining your honor

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Robert L. McIlrath
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  During the evening of September 10, 1966, in the skies above Hanoi, Vietnam, two Air Force pilots ejected from their F-4 Phantom II over hostile territory after it was wounded by a surface to air missile.

U.S. Air Force retired Colonels Bernard Talley and Douglas Peterson evaded the North Vietnamese Army for one day before they were captured. With no end to the war in sight, both pilots knew the only thing their captors couldn't strip them of was their honor.

Talley, guest speaker at the annual Retiree Appreciation Day, May 1, 2015, at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, discussed the fundamentals of getting through six and half years as a prisoner of war and how Airmen today can use those same principles to develop lifelong positive character traits.

"The one thing I really wish I had been told when I was their age was to think about where you want to be in 10 to 20 years from now," Talley said. "Just don't live for the moment trying to be as popular as you can, try and live within your limits and learn all you can, not only about your fellow members or friends but as well as your job."

The former POW said they never felt like victims, they were glad to do it so others would never have to experience the same treatment.

"I think that our survival actually built character among us," he said.

Talley recalled the importance of POW chain-of-command during his tenure at the Hanoi Hilton and how important it is in today's military.

"This generation is experiencing political correctness, but when you find yourself in a prisoner of war camp, you get strength from unity," he said. "If you had someone who didn't want to follow the chain of command, it would have been chaos."

Talley summed up his speech with expressing the importance of freedom. He explained people in this day and age are born into freedom, a gracious gift. He also said living free is a privilege and it is the responsibility of those who currently serve to uphold it.

With his freedom being put on hold for six and half years, Talley expanded on its significance to him.

"It is important to remain free, to fight for it," he said. "That's a responsibility that falls on all of us, particularly the younger generation who do the fighting for us older generations to keep that freedom."

Surviving only on rice, fish heads and water, along with patriotism, Talley and his fellow POW's were able to maintain their honor. Talley is a prime example of the virtues Airmen strive to uphold in not only their careers, but in their daily lives as well.