![\"Fred](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Fred-Cherry-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nThe Washington Post<\/a> reports the sad news that Fred V. Cherry, an African-American combat pilot of the Korean War who was shot down during the Vietnam War and held as a prisoner for 2671 days has passed on to his reward.<\/p>\n \u201cThe plane exploded and I ejected at about 400 feet at over 600 miles an hour,\u201d Col. Cherry wrote in a 1999 collection of war stories by POWs and Medal of Honor recipients. \u201cIn the process of ejection, I broke my left ankle, my left wrist, and crushed my left shoulder. I was captured immediately upon landing by Vietnamese militia and civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI spent 702 days in solitary confinement,\u201d he added, with the longest period lasting 53 weeks. \u201cAt one time I was either tortured or in punishment for 93 straight days.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cherry was released with the first group of POWs on February 12th, 1973. Fellow-POW Porter Halyburton says of Cherry;<\/p>\n \u201cI was so inspired by Fred\u2019s toughness,\u201d Halyburton said. \u201cHe had grown up in the racial South [and] undergone a lot of discrimination and hardship. But he was such an ardent patriot. He loved this country. It inspired me, and it inspired a lot of others.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n