OCR Text |
Show 10 April 25, 1996 Hilltop Times News Briefs GOLF USA1 GMT. EM be held at Swan Rhineland-Palatinate State Police now have their campus. Academy accepting applications Anyone interested in the reunion Science-By-MaThe 1996-9brochure should contact: Charles Edwards, Hahn and applications are now available. and AssociReunion, do Kimley-Hor- n Science-By-Mais a national pen-pa- l N.C. 27636-306(Courteates. Raleigh. in mentor program linking children USAFE News Service) with volunteer scientists. sy of grades During the school year members corand New car resale lot opens respond with their scientist pen-pathematic activity receive two hands-oA new automobile resale lot just west simof the Class IV Store. Rld. SOS. is now packets about this year's topics lot can accommodate ple machines and flight. The cost is $47 open. The per membership group of one to four chil- more than twict? its many cars, and dren. A discounted class rate is also should eliminate t& waiting list available. For more information call problems. Cost for usmss ti resale lot is l, or write $5 for 14 days. Car parki in either reMuseum of Science, Science Park, sale lot must be rersstfred at the Skills or Boston, Mass. 02114-1099- , Development Auto Craft Center prior to sbmAI.mos.org. parking the cars. Both lots are routinely monitored and cars not registered will HHahn AB reunion planned be ticketed. Also, cars for sale are no RAM STEIN AB, Germany (AFNS) -- longer authorized to park in the lot north The company that now operates the of the base theater. Bldg. 441, and can call former Hahn AB, Germany, is planning be ticketed. For more information Ext. ; v. stafor ever a reunion June anyone tioned at the base. The reunion will be held at the former base as part of Hahn Summerfest applications due Days 1996 events. Reunion organizers The 1996 Summerfest International' Holding Operation Arts and Folk Festival will be held Aug. say the company Hahn wants to show former base per- 8, 9 and 10. The festival will feature fine sonnel the successful civilian follow-oarts and crafts by Utah artists, ethnic use of the base, which the U.S. Air Force food and international folk dancers and vacated in 1993 as part of the European musicians from more than eight coundrawdown. Hahn AB was home to the tries. Application forms and guidelines 50th Fighter-Bombe- r Wing, later the for individuals wishing to exhibit their 50th Tactical Fighter Wing, from 1953 work are available from the Bountiful to 1991. Civilian charter and cargo air- and Davis Art Center, 2175 S. Main, craft now take off from runways once Bountiful, Utah, 84010. For more inforused by Air Force fighter jets. In the mation call former military family housing area, more than 1,000 students and faculty of More briefs on page 12. BScience-By-Ma- il 7 il il 8. 4-- 9 Lakes Golf Course in Layton from 11 a.m.-- 3 p.m. April 27, 1996 Will l. n wt Science-By-Mai- x cfJoqcurt UJifeon 75izina. SPALDING 28-2- 9 Cleveland bTaytorMade Maxfli n ILynx' Representatives from major club manufacturers will be on site. Come and Try Those Clubs You Have Always Wanted 292-037- H Ligon from page 1 ments taking him into the was back in the cockpit, and again considered a top fighter pilot. But this time it would be his most formidable Vietnam. challenge In August 1967, Ligon then a lieutenant colonel volunteered to go to Vietnam where he was appointed squadron commander of the 11th Tactical mid-1960- n Reconnaissance Squadron, flying RF4-C- s. On Nov. 19, 1967, his aircraft was struck by a SAM missile and he was forced to eject near Hanoi. He was soon captured and taken to the infamous Hoa Lo "Hanoi Hilton" POW camp where he endured four and a half years of solitary isolation seeing no other prisoners. Ligon said food was sparse and simple and he ate only "sewer greens" an aquatic plant grown in the sewers. "Interrogations were every two days, with constant lies about the war and activities back in the states." William Ligon said. The son also remembers Ligon telling him about other ups and downs of prison life, including being badgered, inter- rogated and often beaten. "He remembered the guard who inflicted the beatings as about six feet tall, and very stout for a Vietnamese. The severity of his beating seemed worse all the time as you got weaker." When asked how he managed to survive, Ligon said, "With no paper to write on, no books to read, no radio, no TV, you had to rely on your own memories, faith, grit and imagination. For me it resulted in recounting every day of my life from childhood ... backwards, forwards and over again and again. I became quite familiar with myself and my family and my friends." Ligon 's son said his father honed his memory skills so well that when he got out of the camp and moved to Florida, he designed for a house an addition that he had kept in his mind for over five years. Ligon 's third liberation from a POW camp occurred on March 14, 1973, when Air Force medevac planes took him and 524 other prisoners to freedom. After recovery, Ligon was promoted to colonel He continued serving in the Air Force for a few more years, retiring at Patrick AFB, Fla. To Ligon, his Air Force career was a military success even though he had served almost seven years of it in POW camps. Still, the horror of war had taken a radical toll on him. "I do know that he had a great amount of physical abuse inflicted upon him," William Ligon said. "He was placed in stocks in the center of the (Hanoi) compound for up to two days. Many of his vertebrae were damaged, along with his ankles, feet, wrists and neck." His son said all these injuries were severe enough to prevent him from what he loved flying. "After returning from Vietnam, the restriction hurt him more than anything else. Flying was his life. I tried to get him to be checked out in small Cessna-typ- e aircraft to sustain his lust for flying but he said it would not be the same as flying any of the high performance aircraft he was privileged to fly in the Air Force," William Ligon said. He was proud, real proud. He was also very active with the Ninth AF Association until he passed on, remembered his old friend. Chuck Mann. Surprisingly, Ligon also kept his sense of humor. For instance, his son said his favorite television program after his retirement was "Hogan's Heroes." "His IS months of time in prison in World War II at the hands of the Germans left a deep impression on him also. Somehow the satire of this program allowed him to laugh out loud at this trying period in his life. He was a great man and cared a great deal about his country, and the military branch he chose to serve," William Ligon said. w W 0 Vs Borrow V- - up to rl g on a - post-date- 7 U d check for 2 t7 jyi weeks jjJ y( 0 I I f.M MA A 4 I A .T.l T iTTtfim CTXKVtrtTi 12th Street. Ggden t64 S. State. SLC $ Open Monday through Friday lO TwJCTlT.1.1 J ft ft 5G5-99C- G a.m.-5:3- 0 p.m: ft a |