Richard Dean Mullen (1931 - 2015)

Captain Dick Mullen was a Prisoner of War for 2249 days during the Vietnam War.

Ensign Dick Mullen served in the United States Navy in the Korean War
Service started: 1951
Unit(s): VF-123
Service ended: Sep 1954

Captain Dick Mullen served in the United States Navy in the Vietnam War
Service started: 1953
Unit(s): VF-191, USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14)
Service ended: 1978

Biography

Birth

Richard Dean Mullen, called Dick and known as Moon in the military, was born in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States on 12 February 1931 to Fred L. Mullen and Winifred. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

He attended Wright Junior College for about two and one half years after high school in Evanston, Illinois.

The United States Navy assigned him to complete his bachelor's degree at the University of California at San Diego in La Jolla, California from September 1973 to August 1975 from which he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics.

Marriages and Family

Dick married Jean Riggins (1931-1998) on 15 September 1956 in Clark County, Nevada. She had been previously married to a Jones. ^[3]She died of cancer on 2 September 1998. He then married Margaret Welch, called Peggy, who survived him, on 18 June 2000. They had met through church activities. She was already the mother of three adult children: Karen, Kimberly and Pierre.^{[4] [5]}

Children of the Mullen-Riggins Marriage

1. Sandra Mullen was born c. 1963. According to her father's obituary, she survived him and has 3 children.
2. Karen Mullen was born c. 1965. According to Dick's obituary, she has 2 children. His obituary does not mention her as surviving him.

Military Service

In 1951 he began his Naval career as an apprentice airman during the Korean War. His nickname was assigned immediately and stuck for the rest of his life. ^[6]

On 18 February 1953 he entered the Aviation Cadet Program of the United States Navy. His commission as an Ensign with the designation of Naval Aviator was granted on 7 September 1954. Dick flew the F9F-2 Panther in VF-123 Squadron out of Naval Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California during his first assignment from September 1954 to November 1955. Then he was a F7U-3M Cutlass pilot with the VA-116 at Miramar from November 1955 to April 1956.

His next assignment was as a F4D-1 Skyway pilot with VF-141 Squadron from September 1956 to December 1957. In December 1957 he was assigned as Flight Commander with the Fleet Air Gunnery Unit at Naval Air Station El Centro, California and on to Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona until March 1960.

From March 1960 to March 1963, he was with VFAW-3 at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, San Diego, California flying the F4D-1. He served on the staff of the Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Command in Hawaii at Camp H.M. Smith in Aiea, Oahu, Hawaii from March 1963 to July 1965.

After training back at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California from August 1965 to January 1966 on the F-8 Crusader, he was Operations Officer with Fighter Squadron 191 at Miramar until deployed aboard the USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) in January 1966. He flew 31 missions in Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on the 31st mission when he was forced to eject over North Vietnam on 6 January 1967 from a single seat F-8E Crusader. His parachute took him near the coast of Nghe An Province which was about five miles south of Tho Son. He was captured almost immediately.^[7]

He was a Prisoner of War from 6 January 1967 to 4 March 1973. ^[8]

Dick was a Commander when he was shot down. He was released during Operation Homecoming. He was kept in several named areas of Hanoi. The progression he gave was this: New Guy Village, Heartbreak Hotel (both within Hanoi Hilton), Zoo (a different camp from the Hilton), Office, Pig Sty, Carriage House, Pool Hall (all in the Zoo), Camp Hope, Rooms 3 & 5 (in Hanoi Hilton), back to Heartbreak, Skid Row, Rooms 2 & 3 (in Hanoi Hilton). During captivity, along with the brutal tortures that most of them suffered, he also suffered a severe blow to his head.

Dick's philosophical take on how he mentally coped with those years was summed up with one of his statements, Happiness is a state of mind and I have control over that. He said that he managed to ...Change depression and misery into joy. In his homecoming statement for the Wyatt book, he writes of thinking about the Great Seal of the United States with the American bald eagle clasping spears in his left claws and an olive branch in his right. He mentions that the eagle is always looking to the right signifying that the United States has the power of war or peace and that it does not fear fighting for American principles and helping those that want Freedom also, but looks favorably to peace as the ultimate goal.

The last assignment for Captain Mullen was as Aviation Safety Officer with the Chief of Naval Air Training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.^[9]

Military Honors

His Silver Star Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam from January to February 1968. 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 the 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.

1. Silver Star
2. Legion of Merit with V Device
3. Bronze Star with V Device and 3 Stars
4. Purple Heart with 1 Star
5. Air Medal with Star
6. Navy Commendation Medal with V Device
7. Combat Action Medal

See his complete ribbon set here

Retirement from the United States Navy

He retired on 1 November 1978 having served his country for 25 years.

Later Years

He was active working with youth (He started the La Jolla Junior Olympics.), the La Jolla Presbyterian Church where he was elder, deacon and usher, golf and travel. He was also very active with the La Jolla, California Kiwanis. He served as a volunteer for La Jolla Meals on Wheels for over 25 years.

Death and Burial

Captain Mullen died of pneumonia on 18 September 2015 in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States at the age of 84.^{[10] [11]} His ashes are interred at the Miramar National Cemetery, San Diego, San Diego, California. Find A Grave: Memorial #153887495

Sources

• Cook County, Illinois Birth Index, 1916-1935.
• 1940 US Federal Census 16 April in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. Page 10A, lines 4-7. Residence at 2305 Farwell Avenue where they had also lived in 1935.^[12]
• Clark County, Nevada Marriage Bureau.
• U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993.
• U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.
• Combat Area Casualties Returned Alive File, 5/1/1962-3/22-1979.
• POW Network for his personal statement on homecoming and the obituary article can be found [here
• NAM POW, Inc. The Association of Former Vietnam War POWs.
• Veteran Tributes. Read the full tribute here.
• Wyatt, Barbara Powers. We Came Home. Toluca Lake, CA: P.O.W. Publications, 1977.
• Ruston Daily Leader, Ruston, Louisiana on 23 December 1970, page 8 entitled: List of U.S. Prisoners in North Vietnam. They are broken down by state of record (not birth). Dick is in the California section in La Jolla.
• Obituary from the 27 September 2015 San Diego Union-Tribune. Also another was sent to all members of the NAM POW organization.
• Find A Grave Section 1 Row 2 Site 57.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Cook Co., IL Birth Rec
2. ↑ Wyatt, BP
3. ↑ Clark Co., NV Marr
4. ↑ POW Network
5. ↑ Obit
6. ↑ POW Network
7. ↑ Vet Trib
8. ↑ NAM POW List
9. ↑ Vet Trib
10. ↑ Obit
11. ↑ POW Network
12. ↑ 1940: Mullen, Fred L. 40, head, 2 years high school, born Nebraska, Assistant District Manager of a life insurance company; Winifred 37, born in English speaking Canada; Theodore Wallace 15, Illinois; Richard Dean 9, Illinois.

Acknowledgements