USS Hancock Association

My name is Elaine Goodwin (Lainie is a nickname). I live in Hallsville, Missouri, a small town north of Columbia, Missouri. I was born and raised in Columbia and have lived in Hallsville for about 22 years. I am the mother of a 12 year-old son, Benjamin.

I obtained a POW bracelet at the age of 14, for Lt. Cmdr. Paul E. Galanti who was shot down on June 17, 1966. Paul was shot down at the age of 26 and held in captivity for nearly seven years. (Editors Note: Paul Galanti was attached to VA-216 flying off the USS Hancock CVA-19 at the time of his capture. For more information on Paul Galanti please visit his website at: http://www.eos.net/rrva/nampow/pgbio.html) I was 17 at the time of Paul's release, February 12, 1973. I wore the bracelet until his release and I remember the night he returned to the United States. I stayed up all night waiting for the plane to land. I didn't even know if he was on that first plane, it didn't matter at that point, we were seeing the first ones (P.O.W's) home. I could not believe it, the first one off the plane was Paul. He stepped up to the microphone and they showed his name. What a thrill this was but I have to admit and I admitted to Paul a few months ago I could not remember what he said. He had recited a poem to his wife, who had waited for him all those years. Jeremiah Denton had done all the speaking on their return and this time he had asked Paul to do it for him. Was I lucky or what? I wrote Paul a letter after his return in 1973 and he wrote me a very nice letter back and sent me a picture of he and his wife from their reunion. I have his letter, picture, and bracelet to this day. That was the only communication until June 2000.

In March of 2000, I ran across Paul's letter, it had been 27 years since his return. Maybe it is time for me to let go of the bracelet. Maybe it is time to find him. The first place I went was where he lived when I received the letter from him. I checked the white pages on the Internet for Richmond Virginia. Yep, he was still there. I wrote him a letter, made a copy of the letter that he wrote to me in 1973, put the letters and the bracelet in an envelope, took the bracelet out, and waited about a week. I was very nervous. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if it (the bracelet) would upset him. Maybe he wouldn't want it, maybe he wouldn't want to be reminded, I knew nothing about him now. Oh, by the way, I could have found him as easily just by entering his name in the website, he does have his own site. It took me about 4 to 5 weeks to send the letter, I didn't want to give up the bracelet. Well, I finally got letter and bracelet mailed to him. A couple of weeks later I received an email from Paul, thanking me for the letter and the bracelet and thanking me for caring when I didn't have to. We emailed back and forth a few times and decided to keep in touch. We have developed a very nice friendship. I did order the film Return With Honor, watched it and the first time that Paul and I ever spoke was on the phone to discuss the film. After I saw it I told him that I would like to call him. We had a nice chat about it and I told him how moved I was by their stories. If you have not seen it, you must !!! We also talked about the bracelet. I told Paul how much it meant to me. He asked me if I wanted it back and I told him no, it was for him now. Well a couple of weeks later, I told him yes, I would like it back. He has returned the bracelet to me with a nice card. I felt guilty asking for the bracelet back so I thought, "What can I do for him?" Paul has a favorite quote that he states at the end of "Return With Honor", There is no such thing as a bad day when you have a doorknob on the inside of the door.... So I took his quote and did a counted cross stitch picture, which you will find attached. Hope it comes out. The Returned With Honor comes from the film title, the Home at Last was on the corner of a Newsweek cover he was on when released. I sent this to Paul in October. He tells me he loves it!!!

That is my story, pretty much, Paul and I are in touch quite often through email. He makes fun of me because I ask so many questions of him. He answers as many as he can. He has been wonderful. We have an air show here on Memorial Day weekend and a Colonel Fred Cherry who usually attends. He was a POW along with Paul. I plan on attending this year and am hoping to meet up with Colonel Cherry. Paul is an extremely busy person and the fact that he takes the time to share so much with me makes this a very special friendship.

BTW, Paul is now Commander (Retired)

Elaine "Lainie" Goodwin

Hallsville, MO

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