Louis F. Makowski

Louis Makowski enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Air Force for Navigator Training on May 19, 1953, and was awarded his navigator wings at James Connally AFB, Texas, on June 16, 1954. Lieutenant Makowski next completed Navigator-Bombardier Training and B-47 Stratojet Combat Crew Training in November 1955, followed by service as an RB-47 navigator with the 10th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at Lockbourne AFB, Ohio, from January to February 1956, with the 3rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at Lockbourne from February 1956 to April 1957, and with the 4th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at Lockbourne from April 1957 to April 1958. His next assignment was as a B-47 Navigator-Bombardier with the 32nd, 352nd, and then the 514th Bomb Squadrons at Lockbourne AFB from April 1958 to March 1965, and then as a B-47 Navigator with the 301st Air Base Wing at Lockbourne AFB from March to August 1965. Major Makowski attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, from August 1965 to June 1966, and then served as a B-57B Canberra navigator with the 13th Bomb Squadron at Clark AB in the Philippines from July 1966 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on October 6, 1966.