Before his plane was shot down, before spending more than six years as a prisoner of war and before he was honored during his hometown’s Fourth of July parade, Col. Robert Waggoner called Steamboat Springs home.
“He was the youngest boy of eight children, and he grew up and went to school in Steamboat Springs,” said Sylvia Spangler, Waggoner’s niece.
Waggoner died June 21 in California. The U.S. Air Force colonel was 86 years old.
Most probably had seen it before, but the symbol-filled ceremony honoring prisoners of war and service members missing in action that began the penultimate day of the Vietnam Veterans of America National Convention in Springfield still tugged at the emotions of the 200 or so vets who attended the 7
In honor of Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Recognition Day, a former prisoner of war came to Ramstein Air Base, Sept. 16 to share his experience and visit one of his last duty stations before he retired. At the time of becoming a prisoner of war, retired Maj. Pete Camerota,
For Charlie Plumb, a retired Navy captain shot down after 74 successful missions, seeing many of the guys he was held with in a North Vietnamese prison was an indescribable experience on Tuesday, May 23. “Seeing these guys I haven’t seen in a long time is really neat, especially when
Retired Navy Captain Michael Cronin graduated in 1963 from the Naval Academy from pilot training in Cecil Field, Fla. in 1965. He immediately deployed for Vietnam, proud to be serving in the U.S. Navy and protecting his country. He flew the A4 Skyhawk on 175 solo combat missions in which
Only a month earlier, they were prisoners of war. Since their release, Navy Lieut. Robert Frishman and Seaman Douglas Hegdahl have been recuperating at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The third released P.W., Air Force Captain Wesley Rumble, 26, whose fighter-bomber went down over Quang Binh province in