Dozens attended a funeral service at Barrancas National Cemetery (BNC) onboard Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola May 16 for retired Cmdr. Ralph Ellis Gaither Jr., a naval aviator well-known in the Pensacola community as a Vietnam veteran and Prisoner of War (POW) who had exemplified defiance while in enemy hands.
On the Fourth of July, the 65-year-old former Navy pilot talked about his blessings while fingering the remnant of a 57-millimeter anti-aircraft shell that downed his plane in the Vietnam War. Osborne managed to eject from his A-4 Skyhawk before it crashed, but it seems the 30-year-old casing has found
Donald Shay’s father is retired now. Donald’s little sister has two young children of her own. His fiancee finally married someone else. And Donald’s mother doesn’t bake his favorite apple pie much anymore; the good smell brings back too many bad memories. Mr. Shay doesn’t know any of this. And
Smiles come easily and often to Gordon Nakagawa — worthy of note when talking about a man whose childhood was interrupted by a stay in a Japanese internment camp, and whose distinguished 32-year military career included time as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton, North Vietnam”s infamous prison. “The one
Two men with local connections will be among the next inductees at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum Trust’s Joseph A. Dugan Hall of Valor induction ceremony Sunday. U.S. Air Force Col. Robert R. Sawhill of Carnegie and U.S. Army Tech Sgt. Angelo Speggen of Masontown will be