He was a Navy pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 65 on board the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CVA-64) flying an A-6A Intruder on a bombing mission when he was shot down over North Vietnam on August 27, 1966. He spent six years, six months and six days as a prisoner of war before he was released on March 4, 1973. He retired from the Navy as a Captain in July 1986.