War vet makes it home after 37 years

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings…”

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

In 1967 the Vietnam War was in full fire and more military personnel were struck down or captured than we ever heard about. For Penny Frederick, the wife of Colonel Peter Frederick, a United States Air Force fighter pilot, the war represented an uncertain future.

On March 16, 1967, Mrs. Frederick received the most difficult news that an Air Force wife could bear — the news that her husband, while ‘slipping the surly bonds of earth,’ was presumably shot down over North Vietnam and declared ‘Missing in Action.’

Colonel Frederick was near retirement, having served in World War II and the Korean War. The Colonel was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action during the Korean War and his awards and decorations totaled twenty-two. He had served his country well, yet his strong sense of duty and his love for the people of Southeast Asia drove him to again volunteer for service, this time in Vietnam.

He left on a combat mission flying an F-104 fighter jet over North Vietnam on March 15, 1967, and was never heard from again. On the 16th of March the government notified Penny that her husband had disappeared and had been declared ‘Missing in Action.’

One visit from Air Force representatives set her world into a fog of uncertainty. She and Peter had enjoyed thirteen years of marriage and they had recently adopted a baby daughter, Tricia, who was now thirteen months old. Penny had grown accustomed to life as the wife of an officer. Fortunately, Penny would still be able to draw a government salary, because Peter had been declared an MIA. Penny, a native of England, decided to take Tricia and move to Tacoma, Washington, where they had previously lived and where she had a support system of friends.

For the next seven years she kept up hope that Peter would be found. “Different things would happen to get my hopes up,” related Penny, “especially when I heard that they had seen <American> men in Vietnam.”

However, Penny didn’t just sit around hoping that Peter would come home, she took action and became one of the charter members, and eventually coordinator, of the Washington State Chapter of the National League of Families. The League is an organization dedicated to creating national awareness for the POWs/MIAs, especially amongst legislators.

In 1970 Penny had hoped to gain information regarding the MIAs during a Paris meeting with representatives from the North Vietnamese government but left disappointed because the delegates refused to discuss the subject. That same year, the National League of Families delivered 40,000 letters to Hanoi in protest of the barbarous treatment of Prisoners of War.

In 1973 and ’74 Penny’s hopes were again raised when many of the POWs were released and returned to the United States. However, when Peter was not among them Penny’s hope faded. It was during this time that a former Prisoner of War, while being debriefed, mentioned that he had seen a white cross draped with Peter’s helmet and ID tags. Penny then had to face the fact that Peter had lost his life in combat.

It was time for her to move on with her own life. She eventually married Peter’s best friend, Colonel John Curran, USAF. Penny and John have been married for twenty-six years and live in Fallbrook.

In April of 2004, after two years of searching, Peter’s body was finally located in a North Vietnamese jungle. “They knew where he went down,” explained Penny, “but in thirty-seven years the earth had moved and the jungle had grown.”

When Peter’s body was finally discovered it understandably shook Penny, but at the same time gave her a sense of comfort. “It was always a big mystery and a bit of a worry,” she said, “but when they finally found the body it was joyous because I know he’s in Heaven and finally now there is an ending.” It was also a comfort for Penny to learn how Peter died. Because he died on impact, Penny is assured that he didn’t suffer and was never taken prisoner.

Penny has been told by others that Peter, a Catholic man of great faith, was an inspiration to his comrades in Vietnam. “Peter always said that he wanted to die in combat after he had been served Holy Communion,” recalled Penny. Because of a letter from a priest who served in Vietnam during Peter’s tour of duty, Penny knows that Peter attended Mass and took Holy Communion every morning. “He took it the morning that he disappeared — it was so comforting to me to learn that.”

After thirty-seven years Colonel Peter Frederick was laid to rest with full military honors in the Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery. On December 30, 2004, after a deeply stirring ceremony at Fallbrook’s La Estancia Inn, he was returned to the ground, this time in America. He was eligible to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with other war heroes, but Penny wanted him buried at the mission. “He’s been gone so long that we wanted him near,” she said.

At Peter’s service Penny told the guests, “Today I’ve heard the word ‘closure’ — Well, for some I suppose it is, but for me closure is like shutting a book and putting it away… I cannot do that. For what we once enjoyed, we can never lose.”

The rain fell, a flyover in the ‘Missing Man’ formation zoomed above… “Taps” was played… and Peter’s three-year-old grandson saluted his coffin. Then the sun came out.