It is with deep regret that I inform you of the passing of Captain Richard Allen “The Beak” Stratton on 18 January 2025 at the age of 93. Captain Stratton entered the U.S. Naval Reserve in June 1955, serving as a naval aviator until his retirement in July 1986 as the director of the Naval Academy Preparatory School. In January 1967, he was forced to eject from his A-4 Skyhawk on his 22nd combat mission over North Vietnam and subsequently survived six years and two months of captivity in North Vietnam, including months of solitary confinement and torture. The North Vietnamese attempted to use him in a propaganda film claiming to show their “humane” treatment of POWs, but his exaggerated bow to his captors indicated he was under extreme duress, and the attempt backfired, leading the U.S. government to go public with evidence of POW mistreatment. After his return with honor when the POWs were released in 1973, he was awarded a Silver Star, Legion of Merit with Combat “V,” Bronze Star with Combat “V,” Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V,” Purple Heart, and Prisoner of War Medal for his actions and leadership in captivity. He subsequently commanded the Navy Recruiting District, New York, then Recruiting Area FIVE, and became the deputy for operations at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Captain Stratton took a circuitous route to the U.S. Navy. In 1947, during high school, he enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard, serving as a mortar squad leader, and was honorably discharged as a private first class in 1948. He then attended the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1951, completing his novitiate in 1952. Afterward, he attended the Oblate College in Washington, DC, where he studied philosophy. After leaving the seminary, he enrolled in Georgetown University and earned a bachelor’s degree in history and government in 1955.
In June 1955, he entered the Naval Aviation Basic Training Command at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola for pre-flight training in the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on 22 October 1955. In December 1955, he commenced flight training in the SNJ Texan and T-28 Trojan aircraft, completing his carrier landing qualification on
Saipan (CVL-48) in July 1956. In October 1956, he commenced jet training in the T-33 and F9F-2 Panther at Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Chase Field, Beeville, Texas. He was designated Naval Aviator No. V-11444 on 1 March 1957, and was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in April 1957.
In April 1957, Lieutenant (j.g.) Stratton was assigned to Advanced Training Unit TWO ZERO THREE (ATU-203) at NAAS Chase Field as a flight instructor, flying the T-33 and different models of the F9F-8 Cougar jet fighter. In July 1957, he augmented from the Naval Reserve to the U.S. Navy. He was commended for 1,000 accident-free hours as a flight instructor.
In October 1959, Stratton was assigned to Attack Squadron NINETY-FOUR (VA-94) at NAS Alameda (and later at NAS Lemoore) as a nuclear weapons delivery pilot and administrative officer, flying the FJ-4 Fury and then the A4D-2/2N Skyhawk. He made two deployments to the Western Pacific as part of Carrier Air Group NINE (CVG-9) and embarked on the attack carrier
Ranger (CVA-61) in February–August 1960 and August 1961–March 1962. He was promoted to lieutenant in November 1959.
In September 1962, Lieutenant Stratton was administratively assigned to the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Unit at Stanford University as part of the Navy Postgraduate Education Program. While attending Stanford, he earned a master’s degree in international relations. In July 1964, after completing the program, he was promoted to lieutenant commander.
In July 1964, Lieutenant Commander Stratton was assigned to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPF) at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, as aide/executive officer and assistant to the deputy director. JSTPF was a joint Air Force/Navy command charged with planning targets for the Single Integrated Operations Plan, the plan for waging nuclear warfare. In February 1966, Lieutenant Commander Stratton reported to Attack Squadron ONE TWO FIVE (VA-125) at NAS Lemoore for refresher training in the A-4C Skyhawk.
In June 1966, Lieutenant Commander Stratton was assigned to Attack Squadron ONE NINE TWO (VA-192) “Golden Dragons” at NAS Lemoore, as a maintenance officer, flying the A-4E Skyhawk. In October 1966, VA-192 and Carrier Air Wing NINETEEN (CVW-19) embarked on attack carrier
Ticonderoga (CVA-14) and deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin for strike operations in North Vietnam. (During this deployment, VA-192 aviator Michael J. Estocin would be awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for actions on 20 and 26 April 1967.)
According to the official report from the VA-192 commanding officer:
On 5 January 1967, JURY 200 piloted by LCDR Richard Allen STRATTON and JURY 202 piloted by LT (JG) John LeRoy Parks were performing an armed reconnaissance of North Vietnam. The assigned mission was to destroy the MY TRACH ferry. The ferry was not found, however four large barges 50–75 feet in length were found one mile up the river. At approximately 0743 HOTEL, JURY 200 rolled in for a rocket (2 LAU 3) attack. JURY 202 followed with two more LAU 3’s. The barges were slightly damaged and no ground fire was observed. The rocket runs were made at 30 degrees, firing at 2500 feet and recovering by 1500 feet. JURY 200 came around for another run, just after he fired two LAU 3’s (one from station two and one from station four) JURY 202 observed flames coming from the tailpipe of JURY 200. JURY 200 reported that he had a rough running engine and that the engine had ingested something. JURY 202 reported the fire to JURY 200 and JURY 200 turned toward the coast. After five to seven seconds JURY 202 noticed the fire engulfed the entire empennage and told JURY 200 to get out. This was reported five or six times at which time JURY 200 exploded. Out of the explosion, JURY 202 observed a good parachute. The ejection took place at approximately 1500 feet. The aircraft went straight in and burned completely. The parachute and LCDR STRATTON drifted about 3000 feet south, at which point it landed in a row of small trees surrounding a small house…. The “beeper” [emergency radio beacon] went on after landing, and ceased one or two minutes later. No voice contact was made. Immediately thereafter the parachute was pulled from the trees. JURY 202 made a low pass at 500 feet and was unable to see any people or movement. When the chute was sighted in the air JURY 202 broadcast “MAYDAY” on “GUARD” frequency at 0745 and then switched to SAR common. The SAR destroyer was called and the position given. CROWN ALFA took command and was given the necessary information. A1-H’s were vectored to the position and JURY 202 showed them the exact position the pilot landed. Due to fuel shortage, JURY 202 departed the area at 0820H.
Since the emergency beacons employed by VA-192 were manually activated, it was assessed by the commanding officer that Lieutenant Commander Stratton was alive following his parachute landing.
In Stratton’s account, he assessed the targets as bridge sections, not barges. He was carrying two LAU-3 rocket pods, which could each carry 19 2.75-inch forward-firing air rockets. These could be fired one at a time, in combination, or all at once. Intended for use against other aircraft, the rockets were widely used during the Vietnam War in an air-to-ground mode because there was a huge stockpile left over from the Korean War. They were also prone to having their folding fins malfunction, causing the rockets to go awry, which is what happened when Lieutenant Commander Stratton fired rockets on his second pass. Two of the rockets malfunctioned, collided, and exploded, causing debris to fly into the intakes and engine.
According to Stratton’s account, he tried to steer his chute, but landed in the only tree in a five- square-mile area. He was immediately met by a man with a large rifle and a man with a machete (initially, he didn’t see the uniformed man behind him with an AK-47). He described Parks’s pass as so low to the ground that it caused a rooster tail in the rice paddy and forced Stratton and his two captors to dive into a ditch together. He was then stripped to his shorts, blindfolded, and led on an 18-hour march to downtown Hanoi. During the march, Stratton’s captors protected him from fatal harm while angry peasants frequently beat him and hit him on the head and shoulders.
Stratton would be a POW for six years and two months (2,251 days). He spent the first 18 months in solitary confinement, where he was subjected to frequent torture, inadequate food (his weight dropped to 110 pounds at one point), and insufficient medical care. According to Stratton, “The only information the interrogators wanted from me was the list of the next targets and identification of new weapons. I did not know what they were; no one did. All meaningful targets were being designated by politicians in the basement of the White House; we would not know our targets until a couple hours before we launched. This was not for security reasons. We had no new weapons: I had just shot myself down with rockets left over from WWII. The interrogators seemed [to] know this and did not pursue the issue.” This did not stop the torture and mistreatment, as the intent was to break the POWs’ will to resist and then agree to sign “confessions.” At some point, virtually every POW would give in and sign a confession, as the alternative was to be tortured to death. The code among the POWs was that one had to take as much physical pain as possible before relenting.
In 1967, American photojournalist Lee Lockwood was the first western journalist to enter North Vietnam in more than a decade. During a special press conference organized for Lockwood, Stratton behaved in a manner that caused doubt and confusion regarding his “confession” in order to discredit his captors. The subsequent article in
Life magazine on 7 April 1967, included a photo of Stratton in prison garb bowing deeply as ordered by a North Vietnamese officer. The article and photo generated worldwide revulsion, the opposite of what the North Vietnamese intended.
The harsh treatment of POWs began to ease somewhat in 1969, and more so after the failed Son Tay rescue raid in 1970. POWs were held in small groups, and would pass the time teaching courses to each other (although they were still subject to beatings if caught talking). Stratton taught “Toastmasters” public speaking to other POWs. While in captivity, Stratton was promoted to commander in May 1969.
Following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords (in actuality, a strategic pause for North Vietnam), Commander Stratton returned to the United States with other POWs on 4 March 1973, as part of the second increment of Operation Homecoming. Upon his return, he was a patient at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California, until September 1973. He then reported to Attack Squadron ONE TWO SEVEN (VA-127) for a flight training refresher on the TA-4F/J Skyhawk.
In October 1973, Commander Stratton assumed duty as executive officer, Naval Plant Representative Office, Strategic Systems Project Office, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Sunnyvale, California, working on the Trident missile program. He was selected for captain during this assignment.
In 1976, Captain Stratton assumed command of Navy Recruiting District, New York, responsible for 44 recruiting sites in the state. By 1977, he assumed command of Recruiting Area Five, Great Lakes Naval Training Station, North Chicago, Illinois. In 1979, he reported to the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, as deputy for operations. His last tour of duty, as the director of the Naval Academy Preparatory School at the Naval Education Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, commenced in 1981.
Captain Stratton retired from the U.S. Navy on 1 July 1986. During his illustrious career, Captain Stratton received several awards and honors, including the Silver Star; Legion of Merit (three awards; one with Combat “V”); Bronze Star with Combat “V”; Purple Heart; Meritorious Service Medal (two awards); Air Medal (two awards); Combat Action Ribbon; Navy Unit Commendation (two awards); Prisoner of War Medal; Vietnam Service Medal (two campaign stars); Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Meritorious Unit Citation; and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
After retiring from active duty, Captain Stratton attended the Rhode Island School of Social Work, becoming a clinical social worker specializing in children and families with psychological trauma and addictions. He was a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and a nationally certified level I addiction counselor. In 1993, he became a contract counselor for sailors and their families at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, and Naval Station Mayport, Florida, retiring in 2001. Throughout his retirement, Captain Stratton was an active member in veterans’ organizations and served as the president of the Association of Former Vietnam Prisoners of War from 1983–85 and as the chair of the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Prisoners of War from 1989 to 1995.
Although I don’t normally discuss family in a passing note, Captain Stratton’s wife, Alice, is a hero in her own right. Left with three small sons, she kept the faith and was there for him on his return, and ever since. During his captivity, she was active in the National League of Families of Prisoners of War/Missing in Action, lobbying Congress and the Department of Defense to bring attention to the cruel treatment of POWs. She served for four years in President Ronald Reagan’s administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for force support and families, touring and meeting with families at 89 different bases. She was the first to hold this position.
Captain Stratton answered the call of duty and served our Navy and nation with extraordinary honor and distinction in the most appalling conditions of torture and deprivation. His Silver Star citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. In January 1967, his captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.
He was a hero by any definition. Captain Stratton would later describe his fellow prisoners as “the finest group of Americans I ever lived with in my life.” His obituary states that he “never lost faith in God, his family or his country.” The American Ex-Prisoners of War website describes his message to future generations as, “We never doubted you would get us home. We were blessed; we were Americans!”
Captain Stratton’s burial will be held on 1 February 2025, at Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, Massachusetts, following mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Rest in Peace, Captain Stratton.