Vietnam POW from Virginia Beach dies at 77

By Earl Kelly

The (Annapolis, Md.) Capital

ANNAPOLIS

Retired Navy Capt. John H. "Jack" Fellowes, a pilot from Virginia Beach who was held at the "Hanoi Hilton" as a prisoner of war during Vietnam, has died from congestive heart failure, his family said.

On Aug. 27, 1966, Lt. Cmdr. Fellowes and his bombardier-navigator, Lt. j.g. George Coker, also of Virginia Beach, took off from the deck of the carrier Constellation. It was their 55th mission together, and the target was a pontoon bridge near the town of Vinh, North Vietnam.

As the plane approached the target, Fellowes said, anti-aircraft fire tore off its right wing. Fellowes and Coker ejected, and both fractured bones in their backs. They were captured about a mile apart.

Fellowes and Coker saw each other occasionally soon after being captured but then were held for four years without seeing each other. They bumped into each other when the North Vietnamese were reorganizing their prisons and prisoners.

"It was Christmas 1970, and there was Happy Jack, standing right there!" Coker said, using the nickname so many people used for Fellowes.

Coker said Fellowes had an infectious sense of humor. After returning to the United States, he said, he and Fellowes had a running joke as to which one of them was incompetent.

"He claimed my navigation got us shot down, and I claimed it was his lousy flying," Coker said.

During his time as a POW, Fellowes was held in five prisons. At times, he was beaten, tortured and nearly starved.

"My lowest point during those years was 10 September 1966," Fellowes wrote in a 1976 edition of Proceedings magazine.

"After a 12-hour torture session in which I resisted my captors' attempts to force a statement condemning my country, I lost the use of both arms for the next four months."

Fellowes spent 6 years, 7 months and 22 days as a prisoner. He said he had some bad dreams about the experience but overall was able to adjust to being back home with his family.

"If you can't adjust to a hot steak and a cold beer, you have got problems," he said.

Fellowes retired from the Navy in July 1986 and settled in Annapolis, often volunteering at the Naval Academy, mentoring midshipmen and talking to them about the meaning of leadership and the importance of integrity.

His son John Fellowes Jr. of Norfolk followed in his footsteps as a Navy pilot.

A funeral will be held at the Naval Academy Chapel, with burial to follow in the Naval Academy Cemetery.

Fellowes described his experience in an account for the P.O.W. Network.