WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) - Their families never stopped waiting, maintaining a lonely vigil through the decades. Many of their loved ones are now gone. Those who remain will never forget.
They are the families of Iowans declared missing in action during the Vietnam War.
At 1 p.m. Sept. 18, the Grout Museum District and its Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum will hold a special recognition for the Iowa Vietnam MIAs in conjunction with National POW-MIA Recognition Day, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (https://bit.ly/1NP75Oc ) reported.
This year also is the 40th anniversary of the official end of the war.
The event will honor all 25 Iowans who went missing in action during Vietnam, said Chris Shackelford, the Grout district’s exhibits and program assistant.
A shadow box for each MIA containing their photo, a replica dog tag and a Vietnam War service ribbon will be presented to family members in attendance or delivered to those unable to attend. Those wishing to tour the museum after the ceremony may do so for the normal admission price.
“It was a privilege to be able to honor these people who gave their lives for the country,” said Diane Morris, owner of VanDoren’s Custom Picture Framing, which prepared the shadow boxes and donated a portion of the cost.
Those honored include three Cedar Valley area natives - U.S. Air Force Col. Richard Ayers of Waterloo, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. L.W. “Bill” Whitford of Cedar Falls and U.S. Navy Capt. Paul Milius of Waverly. All were pilots downed on missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos during the war.
“We waited for years and years. We kept up hope all the time,” said Butch Milius of Denver, nephew of Paul Milius, who will speak briefly at the event. Milius said he’s been “very involved” in POW-MIA activities and done everything he can to keep his uncle and other MIAs in the public eye.
Milius was last seen in February 1968 when his armed observation plane went down in Laos. As commander of the aircraft, he took the controls when it was severely damaged by ground fire, allowing six of his crewmen to parachute to safety as the plane was engulfed in flames and smoke.
One of the crewmen said he spotted Milius bailing out shortly before the plane went down. But while the rest of the crew were rescued by American ground forces, Milius was never heard from again. Years later, his downed plane was found, with the bones of another deceased crew member, but no sign of Milius.
A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer named for Paul Milius was commissioned in the mid-1990s about the same time as its sister ship, the USS The Sullivans, named for five Waterloo brothers who died together during World War II. The two ships have consecutive serial numbers.
“It was quite an honor when they named a ship after him,” Butch Milius said.
Janice Crowe, aunt of Richard Ayers, will be at the ceremony to accept his memorial shadow box and present it to his surviving daughters, now living in Vermont and Texas, when they visit here later this fall.
She and her late husband, longtime Cedar Falls Utilities general manager Dean Crowe, were close to Ayers. “From early on, they connected,” she said. Her husband wrote a reflection on Ayers that it is still difficult for her to read.
“Now I miss both of them,” she said.
Ayers, a 1951 graduate of East High School, was an Air Force reconnaissance pilot. He was shot down over Laos on April 16, 1970. In 1978 the U.S. government changed his status from missing in action to killed in action. But his family maintained hope because no trace of him was ever found.
Whitford, the son of longtime University of Northern Iowa baseball coach L.W. “Mon” Whitford, was reported missing over Laos on Nov. 2, 1969, when his F-100 Super Sabre fighter-bomber was on a reconnaissance mission. According to POW-MIA online accounts, the plane ran low on fuel and missed a scheduled refueling stop. The plane was recovered, but no trace of Whitford or his navigator was found.
Whitford’s father died in 1973. His widow, Blanche Whitford, told The Courier in a 1986 interview her husband died from grief over their son’s disappearance.
Blanche Whitford never gave up hope for her son. She died in 1994. Her obituary listed Bill as one of her survivors, noting he was missing in action. His brother, Tom, died in 2010.
The Sept. 18 ceremony is concurrent with the Grout district’s yearlong exhibit, “365 Days and Counting: Iowans in the Vietnam War.”
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Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, https://www.wcfcourier.com
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