REYNOLDS, JON A.
Name: Jon A. Reynolds
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O3
Unit: 334/335 TFS
Date of Birth: 13 December 1937 Philadelphia PA
Home City of Record: Wilmington DE
Date of Loss: 28 November 1965
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 205700 North 1044400 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident:
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Biography update from Brig. Gen Jon
Reynolds.
REMARKS: 730212 RELEASED BY DRV
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
UPDATE - 03/97 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO
JON A. REYNOLDS
Major - United States Air Force, pilot
Shot Down: November 28, 1965
Released: February 12, 1973
Others in Incident: none
Unit: 335 TFS
During 1965 I was based at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina. In July we
deployed to Yokota AB, Japan and then in November, we redeployed to Takhli
AB, Thailand. We were flying F-105D type aircraft. I was shot down on a
mission near Yen Bai and was captured immediately. The first American with
whom I had contact was Commander Stockdale. On 23 December 1965 I moved from
Heartbreak Hotel to the Zoo, remaining there until 11 June 1966. On 6 June I
participated in the Hanoi Parade with Bob Purcell. From 11 June 1966 to 2
February 1967, I was at Briarpatch, then Little Vegas and Dirty Bird. On 24
May 1968,1 and nineteen others opened Camp Hope at Son Tay. We closed this
camp on 14 July 1970 when we moved to Camp Faith - worst move I ever made.
After the 1970 raid we moved to Camp Unity, staying there until 13 May 1972.
The last camp I opened was Dogpatch. We left Dogpatch for release on 20
January 1973. Repatriation followed on 12 February 1973.
-----
December 1996
After his release, Jon Reynolds became the U.S. Air Force Attache in
Beijing, China. He retired from the United States Air Force after 31 years
as a Brig. General. He and his wife Emilee reside in Beijing.
-----
Jon Reynolds in mentioned in Benjamin Schemmer's "THE RAID." It states:
By one of the great ironies of the Son Tay raid, on the day after Bull
Simons was picked to lead it, the prisoners there were moved to another
camp. A few weeks earlier the well inside Son Tay had dried up. Then the
worst monsoon rains in years hit North Vietnam. The prisoners didn't know
that just outside the compound, the Song Con River was flooding water to
within a foot or two of the west wall. Indeed, one prisoner, Air Force
Major Jon A. Reynolds, would recall later that only days before the move, he
was being punished by spending a few days at the bottom of the well-and that
it was dry. But very clear, high-altitude aerial reconnaissance photos
taken at the time showed that the camp was near being flooded.
The move from Son Tay was orderly, almost casual, not the kind of "panic
move" the prisoners would experience later. The guards had ordered them a
few days before to take down the clothesline, then the volleyball net and
posts. The next day, they loaded hogs and chickens aboard some trucks.
Then they were told to take inventory of their dishes and blankets.
Finally, they were ordered aboard buses. That night, July 14, 1970, they
were all driven to a converted Army barracks at Dong Hoi, 15 miles to the
east. The prisoners immediately named the place Camp Faith.
-----
April 7, 1998
Jon Reynolds was born in Philadelphia, PA 13 Dec. 1937. He grew up in
suburban Philadelphia, attending Lower Merion Senior High School,
Ardmore PA. He then attended Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut
where he obtained a B. S. in Engineering and USAF commission (via AF
ROTC) in 1959. He then attended pre-flight training at Lackland AFB, TX
in Dec. 59, primary flight training at Malden AB, MO (T-34/T-28), basic
flight training at Craig AFB, AL(T-33), and advanced flight training at
Luke and Nellis AFB. In Dec. 1961 he joined the 429 TFS at Cannon AFB,
NM where he participated in various deployments, including the Cuba
Missile Crises of Oct. 1962. In March 1963 he was assigned to the 22nd
Infantry Division (ARVN) in Kontum SVN as an ALO/FAC. As such, he was
in SVN during the overthrow of the Ngo Diem Dinh Government in Nov. 1963. In
Feb. 1964 he was initially assigned to the 334 TFS at Seymour-Johnson AFB,
N.C. and later the 335TFS, which deployed in 1965 to Yokota AB, Japan and
then to Takhli RTAB in Thailand. He was shot down on 28 Nov. 1965 and
captured by local militia units near Yen Bai, NVN. At first he was taken to
the Hanoi Hilton and was then transferred through the NVN prison system to
the Zoo, Briarpatch, Little Vegas, Dirty Bird, Camp Hope (Son Tay), Camp
Faith, Camp Unity, CaoBang, and back to the Hilton for release on 12 Feb. 73
on the 2nd C-141.
Upon release he attended the 560th T-38 upgrade program at Randolph AFB
as Freedom 02. He then attended Duke University 1973-1975 before
joining the History Dept. at USAFA as an instructor in military history
from 1975-1979. He obtained his Ph. D. in 1980. The period 1975-79 was
truly a high-light. In Dec. 1974 he married his fiancee of 1965,
Emilee Wynne McCarthy. A daughter Elizabeth was born in Jan. 1976 and
a son Andrew in December 1977. They lived on a small ranch near
Monument, CO, and it was an especially memorable period. In June 79 he
was assigned to Directorate of Plans, Hqs USAF, and then to the National
War College as an instructor during 1980-81. He returned to
USAF/Plans, and then was assigned to DIA in preparation for service in
Beijing first as the Air Attache and later as the Defense and Air
Attache. From 1986-1988 he was the senior US Military Representative in
China. He returned to the USA in 1988 as senior military assistant to
the Secretary of the Air Force. He directed the DIA Defense Attache
System from 1989 until Sep. 1990, at which time he retired from active
duty and joined the Raytheon Company. As Vice President for
International Technology, he was responsible for Raytheon's Johnston
Atoll Chemical Agent Destruction System (JACADS) from 1990-1994, at
which time he became President of Raytheon China Company. He has served
as Raytheon's Chief Representative in China since June 1994, with
offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Emilee is working in China
for Asia Pacific Access, an Australian company which assists ex-pats in
their transition to life in Beijing. Elizabeth is a member of the Class
of '98 at Tufts University in Boston majoring in International Relations
and Environmental Studies. Andrew is a member of the Class of '99 at
Bates College in Lewiston, Maine majoring in Economics and Computer
Science. Their home is near Wilmington, DE.
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