James J. Connell  Lieutenant Commander James J. Connell (6 May 1939 – 14 January 1971) was an American naval aviator. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Connell served in the United States Navy as a naval aviator. During the Vietnam War, Connell was shot down and captured, eventually dying in captivity. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, with Connell's decoration being the highest award for valor bestowed on a Delawarean during the Vietnam War. James J. Connell was born on 6 May 1939 in Wilmington, Delaware. He attended Salesianum School in Wilmington, graduating as part of the Class of 1957 before enrolling in the Annapolis Naval Academy. Connell trained as a naval aviator at Annapolis, graduating in the Class of 1961 and receiving his designation as a naval aviator in June 1962. According to his Class' Lucky Bag, Connell was active in the Annapolis Foreign Relations Club and was interested in the field of criminal law. Following his graduation from the naval academy, Connell was assigned to Naval Air Station Whiting Field as a flight instructor. After a year at Whiting Field, he was reassigned to a replacement air group at Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno, California. In August 1964 he was assigned to the navy's VA-55 attack squadron, with which unit Connell served aboard and . In the summer of 1966, Connell and his squadron (operating from USS "Ranger") were participating in Operation Iron Hand, a series of strikes intended to suppress North Vietnamese SAM missile sites. On 15 July 1966, Connell (flying an A4E-Skyhawk) and a flight of three other aircraft were involved in a strike against several SAM sites near the Sông Hồng River (also known as the Sông Cái or Red River) south of Hanoi. During the attack, the flight encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire; pulling away from the first target, one pilot reported seeing a chute, indicating a Skyhawk had been shot down. Soon after, Connell re-established radio contact with his flight and confirmed that he had been shot down. He also reported that he had only received minor injuries during his ejection. Due to the remoteness of the area and the large concentrations of North Vietnamese forces nearby, rescue was deemed impossible and Connell was quickly captured by the North Vietnamese. Following his capture, Connell was interned as one of dozens of American airmen prisoners of war (POWs) in North Vietnam; as the North Vietnamese government did not consider the captured Americans to qualify as proper POWs under the terms of the Geneva Convention, the captured airmen were often subjected to harsh conditions while in captivity.