Stephen Anthony Rudloff, Commander, United States Navy (Retired) who survived 323 days in captivity as a POW during the Vietnam War, passed away peacefully following a long illness the evening of Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, at his home on Nelson Avenue surrounded by family. He was 76.
Born February 19, 1945, in Brooklyn, he was a son of Ernest and Mary (Camarro) Rudloff. After graduating from Lafayette High School in 1962, he attended St. John’s University.
It was an unusual treasure the Stevenson Creek dredging contractor found – a Vietnam-era prisoner of war (POW) wristband. Employees of Gator Dredging of Clearwater, Florida discovered the bracelet when their hydraulic barge’s hose sucked it from the creek during dredging operations. “It traveled through approximately 500 yards of pipe
Roque Matagulay born 3 Oct 1931 in Guam. He was an E-8, USA. He was captured 7/23/62 while on a mission for SVN forces in the south. He was exchanged for politcal prisoners 12/24/62. He and his wife had 6 children, 2 daughters and 4 sons. He was held by
Douglas Hegdahl was born on September 3, 1946 in Clark, South Dakota. Being from a small town, Douglas once joked with a reporter that he’d “never been east of [his] uncles’ Dairy Queen stand in Glenwood, Minnesota or west of [his] aunt’s house in Phoenix, Arizona.” So when a military
On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. James Bond Stockdale was flying his A-4 Skyhawk on a mission over North Vietnam, just days after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when his plane took fire and hurtled down. Forced to eject with seconds to spare, he landed with severe injuries: his left
For over a decade I wore a POW bracelet in Sgt. Don MacPhail’s honor and memory. This is the story of Sgt. Don MacPhail and our unique history in pictures, words, video links and newspaper files. For my 16th birthday on August 16, 1971, Irene Pfeffer gave me the bracelet