GUTTERSEN, LAIRD

Name: Laird Guttersen
Rank/Branch: O4/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 04 July 1925
Home City of Record: Culver City CA
Date of Loss: 23 February 1968
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 212400N 1071500E (XJ848654)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4D

Other Personnel in Incident: Myron L. Donald (released POW)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 March 1991 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Copyright 1991 Homecoming II
Project.

REMARKS: 730314 RELSD BY DRV

SYNOPSIS: Laird Guttersen was born in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, on July 4,
1925. Following two years of college at Syracuse University and Arizona State
University, he entered the Army Air Corps in August, 1943 to pursue a dream -
flying. During World War II he flew B-52s and in Korea flew F-51s and F-86s.

Following the Korean War, Guttersen was an Air University lecturer at Maxwell
Air Force Base where his specialty was POW Affairs and, in addition, he helped
write the manual on teaching the Code of Conduct. He served on all levels of
command from the Air Staff to the Pentagon.

On Guttersen's first tour of Vietnam (1965-1966), he flew C130s. During his
second, he was shot down twice, the first a night mission on December 15, 1967,
when he and his "guy in back" were rescued from the Gulf of Tonkin by the
combined efforts of the Air Force, Army, and Navy. On February 23, 1968, during
a mission close to Hanoi, Guttersen's aircraft was hit by a missile from a MiG
21. He crash landed near Haiphong and evaded the enemy for 10 hours. His
backseater, Myron L. Donald was also captured. While imprisoned, he was held in
solitary confinement for 27 months and he and Donald were released in March 1973
with other American POWs.

Guttersen's research at the Air University into the treatment of war prisoners,
and the psychological torture and manipulaton they must face, served him well
after he was shot down in February 1968. Although he understood what was being
done to him through torture and deprivation, Guttersen frankly states, "It's not
a matter of IF you can be broken...it's only a matter of how long it takes."

But his understanding of the tactics used by the Vietnamese helped him to
survive and maintain a positive attitude - that and a message he saw scratched
on the wall while lying on the prison floor in agony with a broken back. The
message said, "Keep the faith, baby." Guttersen says that message helped him get
through "that minute, that hour, that day" and days following. When pilots began
arriving later in the war speaking of POW bracelets and U.S. public support,
Guttersen knew America would do everything it could to free him. He remembers
that support and tries to promote it today.

Upon his return to the U.S., Guttersen was directed not to become involved with
POW/MIA organizations. Guttersen, however, believed Americans were still being
held, and persisted in speaking out on their behalf. He voluntarily retired from
the Air Force in 1974 and has been an outspoken advocate for Americans he
believes are still held captive in Southeast Asia since that time.

Among other awards and medals, Guttersen received four Purple Hearts. He retired
from the Air Force with the rank of Colonel and currently lives in Tuscon,
Arizona. Guttersen lost his first wife to cancer in 1978 and has three children
from that marriage. He later remarried a widow with three children.
