Jon Anzuena Reynolds, Air Force retiree

Brig. Gen. Jon Anzuena Reynolds passed away Saturday, April 16, 2022, after a heroic battle with lung cancer. He was born Dec. 13, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pa.

Twenty-six years after being held captive in North Vietnam, Reynolds returned to the infamous Son Tay prison camp as a tourist in 1995, accompanied by his family. He identified his old cell immediately, as one of the window bars was still bent in a distinctive way. Walking around the remains of the compound, the site of a daring covert rescue attempt in November 1970, Reynolds noticed that it looked remarkably unchanged, except for the damage from the raid. Walking over to the dry well that he and the other POWs were forced to dig, he looked down at the bottom, where he was sent to sit for a few days as punishment. When asked if returning to Son Tay more than two decades after being held captive there was difficult or emotional, Jon responded, “Everyone always asks me that. No, it wasn’t.”

Reynolds’ duration as a POW was one of the longer: seven years and 60 days. But he returned home in 1973 to continue a successful career in the U.S. Air Force and in the defense industry, and to marry the woman he proposed to before he was captured.

Reynolds attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa., before receiving a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1959 from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He received an honorary doctorate from the school in 2015. Commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Air Force ROTC program, Reynolds qualified as an F-100 pilot and participated in several Cold War deployments, including the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. On his first deployment to Vietnam in 1963, he served as a forward air controller for the Vietnamese 22nd Infantry Division in Kontum, directing airstrikes against Viet Cong forces. He was in-country during the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government and the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem. 

Upon return to the United States, Reynolds was assigned to the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, where he flew the F-105 Thunderchief, an aircraft with one of the highest loss rates of the Vietnam War. He participated in deployments with the 334th and 335th Tactical Fighter Squadrons to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey; Yokota Air Base, Japan; Osan Air Base, South Korea; and Takhli Royal Air Force Base, Thailand. While in Thailand, his squadron was attached to the famed 355th Tactical Fighter Wing.

Three weeks before his planned wedding to Emilee McCarthy, while flying a mission near Yen Bai, North Vietnam on Nov. 28, 1965, he was shot down. The wedding would not take place until nine years later, in 1974. 

Reynolds was one of the POWs captured on film July 6, 1966, as he was force-marched in prison pajamas through the streets of Hanoi in what came to be known as the Hanoi March. And he was one of 65 prisoners held at the Son Tay prison camp outside Hanoi for two years. Unfortunately, Reynolds and the group of prisoners held at the compound were moved four months before the raid.

After repatriation, Reynolds rose to become responsible for all the Defense Intelligence Agency’s defense attachés worldwide, after having served as one to the People’s Republic of China for four years. He and his wife arrived in Beijing in 1984 when milk was still being delivered in horse-drawn carts and many Chinese people had never seen a foreigner. His time there was marked by a historic increase in military-to-military engagement between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. He welcomed President Ronald Reagan in 1984 on his first visit to a communist country and presided over a performance of the Air Force Thunderbirds in China. While in Beijing, Reynolds was responsible for managing almost $1 billion in security assistance programs. It is also where he became the first westerner to fly a People’s Liberation Army Air Force fighter aircraft, a MiG-17 trainer.

Upon retirement from the Air Force, Reynolds oversaw Raytheon’s program to eliminate American chemical weapons at the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System, and then returned to China for another six years to serve as Raytheon’s president of operations in China, Hong Kong and Mongolia.  

Reynolds also distinguished himself in academia, receiving a master’s degree and PhD in military history from Duke University. He taught history and directed the world and area studies, and military history programs at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he and Emilee owned The Misty Acres Ranch. There, they raised their two children, hosted numerous cadet gatherings, and kept pigs, rabbits and Nubian goats.

Reynolds was the recipient of many awards, including the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal with V device and oak leaf cluster, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters, and the Prisoner of War Medal. 

Following retirement from Raytheon, Reynolds' passion for aviation continued through his service on the board of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. During his 20-year tenure, including his time as an emeritus, the board oversaw the design, construction and successful opening of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, Va.

Reynolds had a lifelong interest in the outdoors, including an annual fishing trip to Sharbot Lake in Canada, where at age 15, a floatplane ride sparked his ambition to become a pilot. He also enjoyed birdwatching and duck hunting, and connected his love of birds to his love of flight. Late in life, Reynolds was rarely apart from his black Labrador Retriever.

Reynolds is survived by his wife of 47 years, Emilee McCarthy Reynolds; daughter, Elizabeth Peltz and Christopher Peltz; son, Andrew Reynolds and Emily Reynolds; and granddaughter Paige Reynolds. 

Funeral services will be private, followed by interment at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery.

Donations made in memory of Reynolds can be sent to the Canines for Veterans program run by Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 850. Donations can be mailed to VVA, P.O. Box 1718, Dover, DE 19903.