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Vietnam POW Surprises Air Mechanic Who Got Him Home Safely Four Decades Ago

(CBS) -- It was a meeting 43 years in the making.

"I'm looking for a Jim Johnson, is that you?" retired Air Force Maj. General John Borling asked as he walked up to Johnson's table at Culver's in Romeoville. "It's been a long time. It's good to see you, by golly."

The last time Johnson saw the general, it was Feb. 12, 1973. Borling was stepping off a plane after more than six years in captivity as a POW in Vietnam.

"John and I had actually really never met, but I was there when he stepped off that plane," Johnson said, laughing. "He had a lot more to think about then an airmen standing on the sidelines."

Johnson was a member of the maintenance crew stationed at McChord Air Force Base in Washington. He was sent to the Philippines, assigned to Clark Air Force Base to support "Operation Homecoming" that brought home the POWs.

He was one of the avionics technicians who made sure the so-called "Hanoi Taxi" was ready to fly him and other soldiers home.

"I was there for about two months. I was maintenance on the aircraft that were flying out and back in. I was there when the first one came in," recalls Johnson.

Two Former Service Members Reunite

Borling says it's a day he'll never forget. "We got off the airplane one at a time. The crowd was like you're at a World Series game or the Super Bowl. I just wanted to call my wife, who didn't even know if I was alive or dead for the last 6 ½ years," Borling says.

Borling tells Johnson: "We wanted you, we wanted our families, to be proud of us. That was what was sustaining over those years. We got hurt, when they did terrible things to us. We kept the faith with the fellows. You always thought about: I'm going to beat this and come home with honor, and that's what we did."

Johnson's wife arranged the surprise meeting with the help of Project Join Us.

"Who would've thought that 40 years after the fact that this moment in history would've happened? It's once-in-a-lifetime meeting. I'm proud of him, both of them," says Tana Johnson.

Borling gave Johnson a binder with all of the names of the soldiers who were there that day in the Philippines.

"I'm sure you'll know some people in that book," Borling pointed out.

Now that they've officially met, the two men say they plan to keep in touch for years to come. A moment in time bonds them forever.

"It was an honor meeting him. It was a great surprise," Johnson says.

Jim And Tana Johnson
Jim and Tana Johnson (Lisa Fielding/WBBM)
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