Meet the Hero: Douglas Hegdahl

‘We made it:’ Local Vietnam veteran shares his POW story (Wayne Smith)

1,882 days; five and a half years. That’s how long Vietnam veteran Wayne Smith was a prisoner of war. “We were in pretty bad shape, we certainly were,” said Smith. He shared his story with us and dozens of people at Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum. The Air Force captain’s

Former Vietnam POW surprised with a room dedication (Richard Johnson, Harris)

Ret. U.S. Air Force Col. Carlyle “Smitty” Harris, former Vietnam prisoner of war, was honored with the dedication of a lounge room in his name at the American Legion Post #49 in Tupelo, Mississippi on September 18, 2020. He was honored for his exceptional service during the Vietnam War and

1,903 Days as a POW (Daniel Pitzer, Rowe, Versace)

In the early morning hours of 29 October 1963, at Tan Phu village in southernmost Vietnam, then-First Lieutenant (1LT) James N. ‘Nick’ Rowe, the Assistant Detachment Commander, Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 23, prepared for a ‘routine’ combat patrol. Rowe, Senior Special Forces (SF) Medic Master Sergeant Daniel L. Pitzer,

45 years later, Vietnam vet recalls last time he saw ‘Junior’ Price (Daniel Maslowski)

Retired Army Lt. Col. Dan Maslowski piloted a helicopter shot down in Cambodia on May 2, 1970 during the Vietnam War. He never met young Staff Sgt. Bunyan Durant Price Jr., of Belmont, who went by the name “Junior,” but he may have shared Price’s last minutes. Price was listed

No good options: Vietnam POW shares story of captivity (John Yuill)

It was the hardest thing Lt. Col. John Yuill had to do after the B-52 Stratofortress he and five crewmembers were flying in over Hanoi, Vietnam, was struck by two surface-to-air missiles on Dec. 22, 1972, during their third mission in four days as part of Linebacker II. It was