Herman (Alf) Waggener is one of five World War II veterans who will be honored by the city of Centerville at a Veterans Day ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m., at the Veterans Memorial at Stubbs Park, 255 Spring Valley Pike. He was a fighter pilot who flew 53 combat missions over Western Europe in 1944.
Through a special project involving airplane products, Waggener led a task group that found a way to save the military an estimated $10 million a year and received commendations from the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Air Force. Waggener remembers administering the Air Force contract to clean up the island of Iwo Jima after World War II while he spent three years stationed in Japan.
Waggener retired from the Air Force, a full colonel, in 1968. In 1969 he joined the Management Department at Wright State, where he taught until he retired in 1986.
“I am sure WSU has a number of retiree veterans but I suspect Alf is the oldest living one,” says Barbara Denison, a former colleague and fellow retiree. “He is 99 and flew on D-Day.”
His caretaker at St. Leonard says she admires Waggener’s generation as a whole, “but Alf is definitely special to me.
“It has been my honor and pleasure to hang out with this funny, caring, sweet man,” Michelle Keown said. “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.”
- For more stories about Alf Waggener's WWII experience, see WWII veteran celebrates military life in the Dayton Daily News
Editor’s note: Waggener is shown in the photo above with his wife of 76 years, Floss, who died in February.
