Returned 44 Years After Being Captured

On October 5, 1965, Colonel James Hivner, then a Captain, had just dropped a load of munitions on a target from his F-4C Phantom fighter-bomber when his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire. It was the second time he'd been hit during that sortie, and that one brought the aircraft down. 

Col. Hivner and his navigator punched out of the aircraft, and were captured by the North Vietnamese. He was stripped of everything, including his wedding ring, and held captive for more than 8 years.

Though a long and convoluted set of circumstances, the ring, along with Col. Hivner's dog tags, came to be in the possession of Rick Tolley, a retired U.S. Navy commander from San Antonio. He said his former son-in-law was working in Vietnam when he was approached by a retired Vietnamese army soldier.

"He told John that he was cleaning out his desk and found these items," Commander Tolley said of the ring and dog tag. Also on the metal loop was a small cross. "(The soldier told him) if he would take on this mission of finding (the former POW) and return them in peace and respect, he would let him have them."

The former son-in-law agreed to return the items and contacted Commander Tolley Oct. 15 on Facebook.  The commander said he accepted the challenge of finding Colonel Hivner, and, soon after, located him through the Internet.

Commander Tolley agreed that he initially thought finding Colonel Hivner was going to be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack ... if the needle even existed. But, that didn't stop him.

"There was that feeling," he said, "but because of what it was and because I know about the history of the war, I was bound and determined to find him or his family."

Colonel Hivner said he had no doubt he was ring's owner after seeing a picture of the inside of the ring. Engraved inside his ring is his wife's initials and the date they were married.

The colonel said the missing ring didn't change their lives, and he didn't expect its re-emergence to change it now. That, however, doesn't mean he wasn't appreciative or surprised at the fact that his original wedding ring and dog tag made their journey home 44 years after the darkest chapter in his life began.

Commander Tolley personally returned the ring and dog tag to Colonel Hivner during a meeting at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum that was witnessed by family, friends and members of the Air Force family from Sheppard Air Force Base. Hivner's wife, Phyllis placed the original wedding band on his left ring finger of retired Col. James Hivner during that meeting ... on Veterans Day.

FMI: www.af.mil