Major General Richard Vernon Secord, Retired (born July 6, 1932), is a United States Air Force officer with a notable career in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. aviation detachment sent to the Vietnam War in August 1961, Operation Farm Gate. Secord left Vietnam in 1965 to attend Air Command and Staff College. Afterward, he returned to Southeast Asia, being detailed to the Central Intelligence Agency for duty in the Secret War in Laos. While in Laos, he was responsible for several notable military actions. One was the Battle of Lima Site 85. Another was the only successful prisoner of war rescue of the Vietnam War. Both of these came about because of his responsibilities for overseeing the operations of the Royal Lao Air Force, Air America, and Raven FACs. After his Southeast Asian service, Secord commanded the 603rd Special Operations Squadron and underwent further advanced military education at the Naval War College. He then served on staff duty in the Department of Defense from June 1972 through September 1975. His next posting returned him to Iran, this time managing all U. S. military assistance to the Iranians. He was involved in the Iran–Contra affair, making $2 million on the arms transactions and charged with lying to Congress about it but acquitted. Secord went into business in the private sector after his retirement from the USAF. Background and education Richard Vernon Secord was born to Wahnetta and Lowell Secord in Larue, Ohio on 6 July 1932. Two younger siblings, Sandra and Jim, were born in the next five years. Laura Secord was one of the ancestors in their family tree. Because they were poor, Lowell Secord taught his eldest son to use firearms for hunting for food from an early age. Lowell Secord was envious of a childhood friend who had graduated from West Point. To his son, he harped on the benefits of being paid to attend college, and the honor of a military career. Though Lowell moved to Marion, Ohio to become a welder as World War II began, he knew he had not improved his finances enough to afford to send a child to college. Young Richard adopted the goal of attending the service academy. Lowell and Wahnetta divorced after the end of World War II. Wahnetta moved the children to Columbus, Ohio in search of better schools.