Keith R. Heggen

Keith Heggen enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on January 21, 1952, was accepted into the Aviation Cadet Program for pilot training in February 1953, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings on May 12, 1954. Lieutenant Heggen next completed B-29 Superfortress transition training and then B-47 Stratojet transition training before serving as a B-47 pilot until March 1957. After completing B-52 Stratofortress Combat Crew Training, Captain Heggen served as a B-52 pilot with the 346th Bomb Squadron at Westover AFB, Massachusetts, from March 1957 to June 1961, and with the 347th Bomb Squadron (redesignated the 367th Bomb Squadron in April 1963) at Westover and then McCoy AFB, Florida, from July 1961 to June 1970. During this time he deployed and flew combat missions in Southeast Asia in February 1966, from September 1966 to March 1967, from February to March 1968, from October 1968 to January 1969, and from October 1969 to February 1970. Lieutenant Colonel Heggen served as a B-52 pilot with the 340th Bomb Squadron at Blytheville AFB, Arkansas, from June to July 1970, followed by service as Chief of the Operations and Training Division with the 97th Bomb Wing at Blytheville from July 1970 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on December 21, 1972.