Rank/Branch: United States Navy/O4
Unit:
Date of Birth: 10 September 1940 Elizabethton TN
Home City of Record: Ft Lauderdale FL
Date of Loss: 27 April 1972
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 195700 North 1052500 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F4B #153025
Missions: 325
Other Personnel in Incident:
Refno: 1838
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.
REMARKS: 730328 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).
JAMES B. SOUDER
Lieutenant Commander - United States Navy
Shot Down: April 27, 1972
Released: March 28, 1973
Born in Elizabethton, Tennessee on 10 September
1940. Moved to Florida in 1953. Present home is
Ft. Lauderdale. Graduated from Ft. Lauderdale
High School in 1958. Was member of the 1958
AllAmerican High School Swimming
Team. Attended the University of Florida and
graduated from Florida State University, Class of
1962. Entered the US Navy in January 1963 and
commenced flight training after commissioning in
May 1963. Received Naval Flight Officer wings in
July 1965. Commenced training in the F-4 in
September 1965 and was assigned to VF-143 in
March 1966. Completed two cruises with VF-143 and
went to Naval Air Training Command as an
Instructor in the Radar Intercept Officer Course.
After one year as an Instructor I went to
inactive duty for a period of one and a half years
and flew as a civilian pilot. Returned to active
duty in July 1970. After refresher training in
the F-4, assigned to VF-51. Deployed aboard Coral
Sea in November 1971 and shot down on 27 April
1972 on 325th mission - Jim served one day in
prison for every mission he flew -- 325 days.
Message: The happiest day of my life-was when
we got on that big beautiful Air Force C-141
Medevac and took off from Hanoi. Although the
forty of us released that day were all "new guys"
to the Hanoi Hilton, we were still almost
overcome with having attained our freedom. I
think we all had one particular feeling and I
think for the first time, experiencing the
emotions which we felt that day, we could finally
realize that the "old guys" were free. The "old
guys" - those are the gallant men who have served
their country as none other before them have
served. The greatest inspiration I experienced in
Hanoi came to me my first day there. I was
extremely tired, hungry, thirsty and aching all
over from that long truck trip north. The
interrogators had begun their work. I looked to
myself for strength but found I had little to
offer. I wondered how I would sustain myself
during the long months and possibly years ahead.
Then the thought came to me, "You are in the
presence of the greatest men in the world." I
thought of Captain Bill Lawrence, under whom I'd
served in 1967, and Captain Jim Stockdale and
Jerry Denton and Colonel Robbie Reisner and the
many others who had endured the pain and hardships
of POW life for so long. Then my job became a very
easy one compared to theirs. I never lost sight
of that fact and it sustained me throughout.
December 1996
James Souder retired from the United States Navy
as a Commander. He lives in Florida.
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