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.
Former POW and U.S. Air Force MAJ Richard Eugene Bolstad (Captured 6 Nov 65) at the microphone salutes the people who came to greet his return. GEN Paul Carlton, Commander, Military Airlift Command stands to the left and the Honor Guard to the right. MAJ Bolstad and LCOL Doughty were
The food at the Hanoi Hilton was worse than just bad. As a prisoner of war, Ted Sienicki found the bread full of insects. Many of the POWs ate the rations anyway — with predictable results. One prisoner removed something from his body — just what isn’t clear — that
Marion “Tony” Marshall had a penchant for pushing boundaries. This led to some rather intriguing experiences during his time as a POW in Vietnam. Tony always wanted to be a pilot. Despite “skating” in high school he secured an interview for a military academy appointment and was one of only 6
Jay Hess was 14 years into his Air Force service. The fighter pilot, in the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief, was dropping 600 pound bombs in the heavily defended area around Hanoi, in north Vietnam. Hess finished the steep dive, released his bombs and began to pull out when his
Col. James Lamar was shot down during a bombing mission over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent 7 years as a POW, including at the prison camp called the ‘Hanoi Hilton’