Three-time Air Force Cross recipient to speak at museum Published Sept. 8, 2006 By Rob Bardua National Museum of the United States Public Affairs DAYTON, Ohio -- The only three-time recipient of the Air Force Cross, Col. (Ret.) James Kasler will discuss his military career including the six years he spent as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. During World War II, Kasler served a two-year enlistment in the Army Air Corps as a B-29 gunner and saw combat over Japan. Following the war, he attended Butler University in Indianapolis for three years before entering the Air Force Pilot Training Program in Jan. 1950. Kasler took his gunnery training in the F-84 at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., in 1951, and began flying the F-86 in Korea. He flew 100 combat missions and became an ace with six destroyed MiG-15s to his credit. After his return to the United States in 1952, he held a variety of assignments for 14 years in both the U.S. and Canada. Then in 1966, he was assigned to Southeast Asia as the operating officer of the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand. He was flying his 91st combat mission when his F-105 "Thunderchief" was shot down over North Vietnam. He was captured and interned by the North Vietnamese, and not released until March 4, 1973. Col. Kasler is the recipient of three Air Force Crosses, two Silver Star Medals, the Legion of Merit, nine Distinguished Flying Crosses, eleven Air Medals, a Bronze Star Medal and Bronze Star Medal with "V" for Valor and two Purple Hearts.