Robert Certain, USAF

[Gregory Matthews]

I will suggest that the story of Robert Certain may be of interest and it may stimulate thought on the part of some.  Others may see nothing in it.  I will simply leave it to the individual as to how to react to it:

It was December 19, 1972  and Robert Certain was the pilot in command of a B-52, flying his 100+ combat mission over Viet Nam, when the B-52 was shot out of the air.  He survived the fall to the ground and was captured.  He spent the next 101 days in the so-called Hanoi Hilton where he was a POW, until released to the U.S. authorities.

By the way, he had married six weeks prior to being sent into combat.

During the time that he spent as a POW, he began to evaluate his life and where he was headed.  He came to the conclusion that God was calling him to enter ministry.

As he completed his clinical recovery from his stay in Viet Nam, the Air Force informed him that he could have any job  in the Air Force as long as he was medically fit for that position.  So, he responded that he wanted to become an Air Force chaplain under the sponsorship of the Episcopal Church.  So, while continuing on active duty in the Air Force, Robert Certain went to the Seminary to become qualified to become an Air Force chaplain.   He became an Air Force chaplain in 1976.  In 1999, after 30 years of service, he retired from the Air Force with the rank of Col.

Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, he began to experience what we now call PTSD, and entered into treatment.  As part of his therapy, he published the book:  Unchained Eagle.   That, along with the therapy allowed hin  to break the cycle.  In 2006, he led the memorial services for former President Gerald Ford.

Today his lives in Texas with his wife of some 46 years.

 

NOTE:  Most of the information given above came from:  Kristin Davis, "Faith Forged in Captivity,"  Military Officer, September 2018, pages 63 & 64.