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The Red and Black • Friday, November 16, 1990 • 5
Former POW recalls ordeal
By LIZETTE KODAMA
Campus Correspondent
On Feb. 8,1968, the helicopter carrying Ben Pur
cell and five others was hit by gunfire along the coast
of South Vietnam. It crashed in a sandy cemetery.
“If we had made a crash landing in the jungle, I
wouldn’t be here today,” said Purcell, a retired col
onel, explaining the jungle is more dangerous be
cause of the rugged terrain and vegetation.
The Viet Cong captured all six and led them to a
camp. Purcell didn’t leave until five years later. He
spoke Wednesday at the School of Pharmacy Audito
rium in a ceremony commemorating those still listed
as missing in action.
The ceremony, sponsored by the University’s Air
Force ROTC Arnold Air Society and the AFROTC
support group Angel Flight, was part of POW/MIA
Awareness Week.
The day after their capture, Viet Cong interro
gated the men. “But all we gave them was our name,
rank and serial number, which angered them,” Pur
cell said.
Purcell said he was alone in a cell for 58 months.
These were conditions of fear, he said. “Just to
break out into a laugh was so hard since we never
knew what tomorrow would bring.”
In December 1969, he realized the war wouldn’t
end soon, so he planned an escape into Hanoi, where
he hoped to fina the French consul and plead for po
litical asylum. He was successful only after three
tries.
On March 27, 1973, Purcell left for the United
States. “I am not a hero in any stretch of imagina
tion,” he said. "It was a struggle for life in which
prayer became extremely important.”
Over 2,296 families still wait and suffer for loved
ones, he said. Purcell asks that Americans continue
their search because the government isn’t doing
enough.
“It has been said that this issue is high on the na
tional priority list, but I wish I could accept that,” he
said.
Christina Cowan, a junior pre-med major, said the
forum was "very emotional.”
Campus escalator dead five years
1
By NAN LANFORD
Contributing Writer
Georgian wants death explained
By LIZETTE KODAMA
Campus Correspondent
JoAnn Shaw wants to know if
her brother’s plane crashed into a
factory and exploded in Vietnam.
She wants to know exactly how her
brother, Bill, died.
“He was a superb pilot,” said
Shaw, now president of the
Georgia Committee for POW/MIA.
She spoke at a ceremony
Wednesday in the School of Phar
macy auditorium as part of
POW/MIA awareness week.
“The aircraft went down in Ho
Chi Minh City. But it didn’t make
any sense. The explosion was too
large considering what the aircraft
carried.”
The area where the plane
crashed has been cleared, making
it hard to tell what happened, she
said.
She asked an excavation crew to
examine the plane in 1986, and
they said the plane’s contents
wouldn’t have caused such a large
explosion. At the time, they spotted
remains of the arms supply factory,
which may have contributed to the
explosion, she said.
“The aircraft was flying rather
low,” she said. “It could have hit
the factory.”
Her desire to find out more
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about the circumstances of Bill’s
death led Shaw to the National
League of Families in 1970 and
eventually to the position she holds
today.
Shaw was honored in the cere
mony, sponsored by Air Force
ROTC and Angel Flight.
In 1971, she brought a petition
to the Paris Peace Talks and the
Geneva Convention asking to exca
vate certain crash sites in
Vietnam.
‘The problem that we face today
is the bureaucracy,” she said. “We
have to get the permission in
Hanoi, then go to the region, then
the district and then the village to
excavate the site. It’s frustrating.”
Shaw has another concern —
that Americans may find them
selves in this situation again.
‘The list of MIAs still stands,"
she said. “Will we see another con-
She asked an
excavation crew to
examine the plane in
1986. The crew said
the plane’s contents
wouldn't have caused a
such a large explosion.
cerning the situation in Saudi
Arabia?”
Major John Fite of Air Force
ROTC said of the ceremony, “I
wish more people were here to take
the time to get information. It’s
pretty sadly swept away from the
public eye.”
What goes up must come down
— unless it’s the escalator in Ader-
hold Hall which has not moved in
five years.
The one-of-a-kind escalator was
stopped permanently in 1985 be
cause maintenance became too
costly, said Walt Britton, business
manager for the College of Educa
tion.
To repair the broken handrails
would’ve cost $140,000 because
they were hand-made, Britton
said.
“At that time, we were told it
would cost $50,000 to tear the esca
lator out and $100,000 to build
rooms in its place,” Britton said.
‘Tor about the cost to temporarily
fix it, we could have had much-
needed office space.”
No one seems to know why the
escalator was placed in the
building which has stairs and el
evators.
Students sometimes use the es
calator as a staircase. But studies
conducted by the college show that
most students use the elevators if
they are going above the first floor.
“It’s stupid to have an escalator
there and nave it not work," David
Eberhart, n senior special educa
tion major, said as he waited for
the elevator. “It’s like having a car
that doesn’t run. Why keep it?”
Education Dean Alphonse Buc-
cino requested the escalator be re
moved and replaced with office
space in 1986, Britton said.
“In 1988, when we were re
moving asbestos from the building,
we submitted a plan to Vice Presi
dent (Alan) Barber to make the
changes with the escalator,”
Britton said.
Barber said he realized the
space was needed but to involve
another contractor at the time
would bring chaos, Britton said.
Tnicy ^unbarf/The fled and!
Get there yourself: Kathleen Varnell climbs escalator.
The proposal to replace the esca- sit/s buildings in good repair.
The defunct escalator surprised
lator with offices awaits funding
from the Mqjor Repair-Rehabilita
tion Request.
The MRR project provides funds
from the state to keep the Univer-
senior biology major Chris Gay
when she entered Aderhold for the
first time.
“It makes it look bad,” she said.
Congratulations to Phil Smith,
political science graduate student,
who hates AUBURN because:
"They are coached by a Benedict
Arnold, Ex-Bulldog, named Pat
'wish he would' Dye, and because
Bo knows That Auburn is really an
acronym for Awfully Ugly Back-
i wards Uneducated Red Necks."
Phil wins two free passes, compliments of The Red
& Black, to the GA/Auburn Game this Saturday.
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