Editor’s note: The Newport Plain Talk’s veterans affairs columnist, Rob Watkins, covered a presentation to Cocke County High School students on May 8 by two Vietnam War veterans. Watkins was the obvious choice for the event, being a veteran himself and knowing both presenters and their compelling stories.
Prior to the May 8 presentation from two Vietnam Veterans at Cocke County High School, history teacher John Keller explained it was the students who chose the subject. “Each year after testing is over, I allow my students to choose a subject that they covered during the year that they would like more information about,” he said. “This year my 11th-grade class said they would like to know about the Vietnam War.”
Keller reached out through some of his relatives and their friends and arranged for two Vietnam veterans to come to the school and share their stories. One of the guests was Robert “Buzz” Buswell, who served as an Army lieutenant platoon leader.
The other guest was Andrew “Bill” Robinson, Captain U.S. Air Force, Retired. He has the “not so great” record of being the longest held, non-commissioned officer of the Vietnam War. He was a prisoner of war (POW) for 2,703 days, or as he explained to the students who were trying to figure out how long that was, “I missed eight Thanksgivings, eight Christmases, and eight New Years. He was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese Army/Vietcong (NVA/VC) on Sept. 20, 1965, during a rescue mission in North Vietnam. (The longest held officer, Capt. Floyd James Thompson, spent just short of nine years as a captive.)
Robinson spoke to the 50 students about the horrible treatment he and the other prisoners were given, the many times the VC had held a gun to his head, spending days being bound, and being beaten. The testimony of his ordeal lasted over an hour and touched on the memories he has of the seven and a half years in the hands of the enemy and life since he returned home.
As a staff sergeant, Robinson was a flight engineer on an HH43B “Huskie” helicopter whose mission was to rescue American pilots shot down by the enemy. On Sept. 20, 1965, on a mission to rescue a downed pilot about 10 miles from Laos, his helicopter was shot down.
After the crash landing, he and the three other crew members were captured and transported on foot to where he would have his first taste of captivity. Along the way the four were marched through villages where, at first, the crowds were curious about them and would point and laugh. Then the crowd’s mood would turn ugly, “all hell would break out,” and he and the others were beaten. This happened over and over until they reached their destination, the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.”
When he was placed in his cell, he described a room “he could reach the outside walls by stretching his arms, with a platform about 16 inches wide and 4 1/2 feet long (observably for a Vietnamese not a tall American), and a bucket at the end of his bed, a “pot to pee in.” As the sounds of his guard’s sandals/flip flops went away he heard the voice of Lt. Col. Robinson Risner in the next cell. Bill Robinson said Risner told him: “Be prepared to die for your country ... we are here to survive to return home with honor.”
Robinson’s story had the students focused on his words. They shook their heads in disbelief of the torture the Americans received. Several had questions and one asked, “Why were the guards so mean?” Robinson said, “The guards were not trained like our detention officers are, the only requirement was that the person selected had a family member killed by an American or from an American bomb.”
Robinson returned to America with honor after he was released on March 29, 1973. He said, “Only one of five Americans who were shot down survived.” He then closed by saying, “In this great country of ours, some people dream the dream, some people live the dream, our armed forces defend the dream. God bless the defenders of the dream.”
There is so much more to Robinson’s story, much of which is included in a book about his life, “The Longest Rescue: The Life and Legacy of Vietnam POW William A. Robinson,” written by Glenn Robins.
Buswell has been very active in veterans matters. He spearheads the region’s Wreaths Across America’s program, the free monthly breakfasts for veterans, and is the director of Knox County Senior and Veterans Services. “My story of being wounded and spending nine months in the hospital (and years recovering from his wounds) is nothing compared to Bill’s story,” he said. “Bill is a good friend, and I am just here to support him, not tell my story.”
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