Walter Morris Stischer

My great uncle Walter Morris Stischer passed away recently at the age of ninety-one.  He was the youngest of eight and the only son.  His son David Walter Stischer passed away three years ago.

Walter and my father Joseph Wallace Croft Junior both served in the Vietnam War.  Walter was shot down over Laos and was held as a prisoner of war for nearly five years.  I was told that he was one of the last prisoners of war to be released.

Here are links from the Web that tell parts of his story:

• https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/24079171/walter-morris-stischer
  
  
• http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=1194
  
  
• http://aircrewremembered.com/usa-prisoners-released-from-vietnam.html
  
  
• https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/29/archives/49-more-americans-free-one-a-prisoner-since-65-49-additional.html
  
  
• https://picclick.com/1973-Press-Photo-Ex-POW-Colonel-Walter-Stischer-greeted-303944655295.html
  
  
• https://lasvegassun.com/news/1998/mar/26/laos-and-found/
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• You might need to copy and paste the link
  
  
• https://www.historynet.com/rf-4c-photo-phantoms-fly-into-a-war-without-weapons/

Walter is also mentioned in some books about Vietnam prisoners of war:

• A Code to Keep: The True Story of America's Longest-Held Civilian POW in Vietnam
  
  
• Honor Bound: The History of American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973