Jacksonville will remember missing military members Friday and Saturday at events marking National POW/MIA Recognition Day. An open house is scheduled Friday at Jacksonville’s National POW/MIA Memorial at Cecil Airport on the city’s Westside. Speakers on Saturday will include Meghan Wagner, daughter of Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, a Cecil-based aviator who became the
It was supposed to be a routine mission, a “milk run” in the words of George Coker, who was serving on his 55th missions in Vietnam as a bombardier/navigator. Usually, his missions consisted of flying over Vietnam from the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and bombing strategic points like bridges and
Chaplain Col. Keith Lewis visiting the University of Findlay Veterans Honor Wall during 2018 Homecoming and Family Weekend. For Chaplain Col. Keith H. Lewis, USAF (RET), it was the little, yet profound things that kept him alive while he was a POW during the Vietnam War. For instance, a clock
A prisoner of war for seven years, a University of Wisconsin alum spoke to a group of UW Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets Tuesday, telling a jarring tale of courage, honor and service. Originally trained as a navigator, Col. Don Heiliger became an official pilot when the Air
Five decades ago, Col. James Lamar was playing poker against fellow prisoners of war with cards made of toilet paper and chips made of matchsticks at the “Hanoi Hilton” in North Vietnam on the tail end of his nearly 7-year stint at the notorious prison camp. Today, 94-year-old Lamar enjoys playing Texas