Captain Richard Stratton did more than serve his country in the Vietnam War — the prisoner of war was known as The Beak, a heroic member of the World-Famous Golden Dragons, Strike Fighter 192. On Saturday, the Quincy native was laid to rest with full military honors.
“We never doubted you would get us home,” Stratton was quoted in his obituary as saying about his time in captivity as a POW. “We were blessed; we were Americans.”
Stratton earned his pilot’s wings in 1957 and served in Vietnam. He was captured there after being forced to eject his aircraft and spent 2,251 days in North Vietnamese prison camps before his release in 1973, according to his obituary.
Stratton died Jan. 18 at 93 years old. Quincy Police provided an escort from Logan International Airport in Boston to the funeral home and then to Sacred Heart Church in North Quincy and burial at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy.
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