William Michael WoganSergeant First ClassD CO, 1ST BN, 506TH INF RGT, 101 ABN DIV Army of the United States 15 October 1947 - 17 July 1978 Glen Oaks, New York Panel 32W Line 047 |
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The database page for William Michael Wogan
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I would like to honor the memory of my adopted MIA, William Wogan. |
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Bill was a comrade in arms and a friend. On the day he was killed, 2/17/69, we were in a firefight and took a North Vietnamese Army Major prisoner. We called in a chopper to pick up our wounded and the prisoner. The Landing Zone we used was already cut and immediately after the slick lifted off the NVA command detonated a 250 pound bomb that they had buried under the LZ. Bill was killed by the explosion and all we could find were his dogtags and remnants of his uniform. He was a great guy who never complained and performed his duties as an American soldier with pride. He will always be remembered and never forgotten by the men of Delta Company.
Bill ("Frisbee") Farnie |
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William was a real good friend of mine and I was there the day that his life was taken.
Lenard Burdine |
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I served with Co D 1/506 Infantry from December 12,1968/December 09,1969 and met Willie and remember him being a friendly freckled faced kid. I knew right away that he was the type of person who never met a stranger. A few days before going back to the field Willie was concerned that the Captain was making him go back to the field with only two weeks left in country. Willie asked to use my MACV card to buy a radio to take home with him and just before the Hueys picked us up Willie brought the card back to me and thanked me and told me that we probably would not see each other again because they would more than likely pull him from the field soon and we were in different platoons. Our Huey came into the LZ first and we exited without any problem and we walked on into the bush and shortly thereafter Willie's chopper was coming in next and we heard a tremendous explosion and then sporadic AK fire. Days later I heard that Willie was gone and apparently standing on top of the booby trapped bomb. I have never forgotten Willie and what happened in Viet Nam and can still picture Willie, Doc Fenush, Dewey Struebing - all frozen in time, never getting older, kids.
Respectfully, |
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I adopted William M. Wogan from Operation Just Cause. I am working with them to try and get a total accounting of these brave soldiers such as William. His remains have never been found, and there is no proof that he was killed. There is still the possibility that he was captured. Until we know for sure we owe it to William and his family to work until we do know for sure. I salute you William M. Wogan, I thank you for your sacrifices, my yellow ribbon and MIA flag flys for you. I hope we can bring you home. Please don't ever forget these soldiers!
Shawn Pragle |
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Plans are currently in the works to build a memorial on the site of the Veterans Triangle in the Bellerose-Glen Oaks area on Union Turnpike near Little Neck Parkway. The site is maintained by the Deptartment of Parks and the Stein-Goldie Post 552 of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA and other Veterans in the area. There is a flag pole and WWII cannon in place. Hopefully, within a year a stone monument will be constructed and put in place to honor men who have fallen in time of war from the Bellerose-Glen Oaks area. We would like to contact SFC Wogan's family and or men who served with him, addresses and telephone numbers.
From a member of the National Executive Committee of the JWV,
Queens County Council JWV, P. O. Box 26, Glen Oaks, NY |
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Bill, your three nieces would have loved to have known you. They would have learned a lot from you. It has been 38 years since I last saw my brother, William M. Wogan. He has been sorely missed and seeing this site has brought back many memories. I want to thank those people who wrote such beautiful memorials to Bill. It's nice to see that he left such an impact on so many people.
From his sister, |
A Note from The Virtual WallAlthough then-SP4 Wogan was standing at or very close to the point of explosion, it was not absolutely certain that he had died when the bomb detonated - there was a remote possibility that he had been blown into nearby foliage but survived. Accordingly, Wogan was classified as Missing in Action rather than Killed in Action. He was carried as MIA until 17 July 1978, when the Secretary of the Army approved a Presumptive Finding of Death and his status was changed to killed in action, body not recovered. Delta 1/506 lost a second man on 16 February, although not in the same incident ... CPL Lonnie D. Loyd of Oklahoma City, Olkahoma, was killed by enemy gunfire.
In his comments above Mr. Carmack remembers two other men. SP4 Dewey W. Struebing of Grand Island, Nebraska, died on 09 Feb 1969 from gunshot wounds received earlier. Corporal Thomas P. Fenush, a combat medic from Grassflat, Pennsylvania, was one of twenty men killed in the action at Hill 996 on 11 July 1969. |
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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Last updated 11/14/2010