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Colonel Robert G. Certain, USAF (ret.)
“attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating in 1969 with a BA degree in History and a commission in the
US Air Force. As a combat aviator he flew 100 missions over Southeast Asia in 1971 and 1972 before being shot down and captured.”
According to the POW Network, “The crew of the aircraft included its pilot and commander, LTCOL Donald L. Rissi
and crewmen Maj. Richard E. Johnson, the radar navigator; Capt. Richard T. Simpson, electronics warfare officer; Capt. Robert
G. Certain, the navigator; 1Lt. Robert J. Thomas, the co-pilot; and Sgt. Walter L. Ferguson, the gunner. Just seconds to reaching
the bomb-release point over the Yen Vien rail yards, B52G Charcoal 01 was hit simultaneously by two SAMs. Less than a minute
later the aircraft nosed down, crashed and exploded ten miles northwest of Hanoi. Certain, Simpson and
Johnson were captured and shown the bodies of the other crew members. Certain, Simpson and Johnson were held prisoner in Hanoi
until March 29, 1973, when they were released in Operation Homecoming. Six years later.”
After the Vietnam War, Robert
G. Certain “attended the School of Theology, an Episcopal Church seminary in Sewanee, TN, received his Master of Divinity
degree and was ordained as a priest in 1976. In 1990, he earned his Doctor of Ministry degree. As a military chaplain, he
served as in the Air Force on active duty and in the reserves, serving in various locations, including the Air War College.
He retired from the Air Force Reserves in 1999 at the rank of Colonel.” Colonel Robert G. Certain
is the author of Unchained Eagle: From Prisoner of War to Prisoner of Christ and The
Spiritual Quest - Christian Spiritual Direction in 12 Simple Steps. The MOAA said of Unchained Eagle: From Prisoner of War to Prisoner of Christ,
“Certain shares his spiritual journey as he struggled to reconcile the tragic events of aerial combat, shoot-down, and
imprisonment, with his subsequent life as a pastor and priest to the people of God. Upon returning home he discovered that
leaving Vietnam behind was easy, but that breaking the chains of those tragic days was considerably more difficult.”
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