Former POW among 10 heading into Hall

Former POW among 10 heading into Hall

(EXCERPT) By CHIP CIRILLO Staff Writer

Sports helped William Lawrence make it through the most agonizing time
in his life.

So the former Navy football, basketball and baseball player won’t take
it lightly when he is inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame
on Feb. 27 at the Renaissance Hotel.

The TSHF also will induct Reggie White, Lloyd Neal, Andy Roberts, Ken
Sparks, June Stewart, John Tucker, Holly Warlick, Betty Wiseman, Henry
Allen Kimbro and Joe Worden.

Lawrence, who was a multiple sport star at defunct West High in
Nashville, was a prisoner of war for six years during the Vietnam War.

" Having played a lot of sports, I had the physical capability to
handle most of the torture and the terrible heat, " Lawrence said. "
As I tell everybody, the only thing worse than being a POW in
southeast Asia is August football practice in Nashville and Annapolis.
"

Lawrence was captured by a North Vietnamese militia when his Navy
warplane was shot down on June 28, 1967.

" I was leading a strike of airplanes against a target called Nam
Dinh, which is about 25 miles south of Hanoi, " Lawrence said. " As I
was approaching the target I got hit by an 85-milimeter anti-aircraft
gun. The flak hit my airplane and severed my hydraulic lines so the
airplane was not flyable. "

Lawrence ejected from the airplane with his parachute and he was
captured immediately after landing on th...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com