Drummond was born in Preston, England, but moved to the USA with his parents at the age of four.  He lived in Jersey City, North Bergen, and Westwood, and became a naturalized US citizen in 1961.  In 1969 he graduated from Newark College of Engineering, where he participated in AFROTC and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force.  On December 22, 1972, during the Linebacker II raids, the final bombing operation of the Vietnam War, the B-52 bomber that Capt. Drummond co-piloted was shot down over North Vietnam.  Drummond and his fellow crewmen were taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese and held until the end of the war and Operation Homecoming in March 1973.

Drummond’s crew was the only captured B-52 crew to have all its crewmembers return alive to the USA.

After repatriation, Drummond left the Air Force and started a flying career with American Airlines.  He worked for Bell Helicopter Company as a flight test engineer testing experimental helicopters, and later returned to American Airlines.  He currently flies as captain of an American Airlines Boeing 777.  He and Jill, his wife of 33 years, live in Manalapan and have one son, Ian, a graduate of Susquehanna University.

Lecture attendees are asked to RSVP to (732) 335-0033.  A donation of $5.00 per person is suggested.  The Vietnam Era Educational Center is located adjacent to the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial off the Garden State Parkway at exit 116.  The Memorial and Educational Center are maintained through a partnership between New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation and the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.  The Educational Center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Regular admission is free for veterans and active-duty military personnel.  Regular adult admission is $4.00; student and senior citizen admission is $2.00; and children under 10 are admitted free.