Richard Allen Stratton (born October 14, 1931) is a retired Naval Aviator (No. V-11444) and a clinical social worker. He served as lieutenant commander during the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1973. He served on the USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14)/Air Wing 19/Attack Squadron VA-192. Richard flew 22 combat missions, earned two Air Medals and the Combat Action Ribbon. After capture by the North Vietnamese on January 5, 1967, he served with the Fourth Allied POW Wing, Hanoi, DRVN. He earned the Silver Star for his valor and leadership while a prisoner of war. His post service career was as a clinical social worker licensed to practice in Rhode Island and Florida. He has also served as a national certified addiction counselor, Level I, and has served as the chairman of the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Prisoners of War from 1989 to 1995. Early life and education Stratton was born on October 14, 1931, in Quincy, Massachusetts. His father was Charles Arthur Stratton (1902–1975) of South Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a veteran of WW I (U.S. Navy) and WW II (Massachusetts State Guard). His mother was Mary Loretta (Hoar) Stratton (1903–1989) of Somerville, Massachusetts. Richard had a brother named Charles A. Stratton Jr. (1930–1988), who was a Veteran of the Korean War (U.S. Marine Corps). Stratton attended the Quincy, Massachusetts public school (1937–1948) and Our Lady of Hope Minor Seminary (1949–1951), Newburg, New York. He joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1951, completing his novitiate in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in (1952). He studied philosophy at the Oblate College, Washington, D.C. (1952–1954). Leaving the seminary, he graduated from Georgetown University (1955) with a BA degree in History/Government. He earned a Master of Arts degree (International Relations) from Stanford University (1964) as well as a Master of Social Work degree from the Rhode Island College School of Social Work (1988). He developed an early interest in aviation with initial visits in the mid-1930s to Dennison Airport (Squantum), in Quincy, Massachusetts, the home of the Harvard Aero Club, which hosted Amelia Earhart. During high school, he closely observed the intensive training activities of aircraft based at the Naval Air Station Squantum, (Quincy Massachusetts), observed aircraft carrier launchings at the Fore River Shipyard (Quincy, Massachusetts) and maintained contact with neighbors then serving in the Armed Forces. Military career Pre-Vietnam During high school Stratton enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard (1947–1948) [211