A Jewish captain in the American Air Force captured by the North Vietnamese has been returned to the United States and another captain remains in North Vietnam awaiting repatriation, the U.S. Air Force informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today. Capt. Edward A. Brudno, who was shot down on Oct. 18, 1965 over North Vietnam while in a F-4 fighter bomber, is now hospitalized at Westover Air Force Base in Mass. He was among the first 155 prisoners released by North Vietnam. Still a prisoner in North Vietnam is Air Force Capt. Melvin Pollack who was shot down over North Vietnam on July 6, 1967.
Capt. Michael Burch of the Homecoming Information Center at the Pentagon said Capt. Pollack was born March 9, 1942, but refused to give any additional details on his identification pending his release to the United States. Capt. Burch observed that Air Force regulations forbid making public any personal information until a prisoner is freed.
Regarding Capt. Brudno, Capt. Burch said that his condition is “apparently pretty good” and that he is “alert and ready” to get back to normal living after his imprisonment in North Vietnam for more than seven years. Capt. Brudno’s wife, Debra C. Brudno, lives in Harrison, New York, according to Capt, Burch. Capt. Brudno was born June 4, 1940, in Quincy, Mass, and joined the Air Force in 1963 shortly after being graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was assigned to Karatair Base in Thailand in 1965, not long before his plane was shot down.
It was understood that a dozen Jews are among the 555 American military prisoners known to have been captured during the war in Vietnam. However, the names of Jewish prisoners among the Army and Navy personnel were not immediately available.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
