'My Name Is Lance Peter Sijan!'

The colonel, recalling the tragic events of almost nine
years earlier, had been talking for more than an hour about
the heroic ordeal of Capt Lance Sijan, his cellmate in North
Vietnam. Reaching the point in his chronology when Captain
Sijan, calling out helplessly for his father, was taken
away by his captors to die, Col Bob Craner's voice broke
ever so slightly and tears glistened in his eyes. He agreed to
a break in the interview.
“Okay, Mom, you can come back in now!”
The voice, coming from a tape recorder that day in early
November 1967, gave immense pleasure to Mr. and Mrs.
Sylvester Sijan (pronounced sigh-john), just as it had so
many times for more than 25 years. It was especially meaningful
now, coming from Da Nang AB, Vietnam. Capt
Lance Sijan had done his Christmas shopping early and, separated
by half a world, was having some mischievous fun
with his family.
Sitting in the living room of the comfortable two-story
house in Milwaukee this past January, Mrs. Jane Sijan tenderly
related the tale of her son's tape. Across the street,
snow was crusted on the park that gently slopes into Lake
Michigan. Flames danced in the fireplace as Sylvester Sijan
busily prepared to show movies of Lance's graduation from
the Air Force Academy in 1965.