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.
During the Vietnam War many United States soldiers were captured and held as prisoners of war. Many soldiers reported being regularly tortured, and some were used for military propaganda. This video includes archival footage and interviews with Iowa veteran Harold Johnson. Johnson describes his role as a military jet pilot,
Air Force Capt. Willis E. Forby was forced to eject from his F105D Thunderchief after being hit by anti-aircraft fire on a bombing mission near Ha Tinh, North Vietnam. Forby’s wingman called for help and the 38th Air Rescue Squadron in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand responded. Helicopter pilot Capt. Thomas Curtis,
If captured by the enemy and imprisoned during wartime, American servicemembers must summon the highest levels of courage. A pair of retired lieutenant colonels in Texas knows all too well what it’s like to be stripped of freedoms and have their patriotism and faith put to the test. Lawrence Barbay was
‘Save Me Some Trout,’ Suring POW Writes By gerry Mcdowell Press-Gazette Staff Writer SURING “I hope you save a few of those trout in the pond for me.” This was a message in the Christmas letter from Capt. Gerald Gerndt, whose parents. Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Gerndt of Suring, are
Col. Al Brunstrom of the U.S. Air Force, retired, 83, describes how he was shot down in Vietnam in the RF-101 (Voodoo) he was flying, on a scale model of the aircraft, at his home in the Woods and Lakes community near Ocklawaha, Fla. on Tuesday, August 5, 2014. Brunstrom
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