Alaskan who served in both WWII and Vietnam honored in Veterans Day ceremony

Walter Fergus, a 94-year-old World War II prisoner of war and Vietnam War veteran, was presented a folded U.S. flag honoring him for his 28 years of service during a Veterans Day ceremony in the Glenn Massay Theater in Palmer Monday.

Fergus was a gunner in a B-24 Liberator when his plane was shot down over Germany and he “became a guest of the German government,” as Fergus put it at the ceremony. Fergus was a POW for about nine months at Stalag 7A north of Moosburg, Bavaria near the end of World War II.

Being at the ceremony “Brought back a lot of memories that I had stashed away. The POW memories are the ones I try to stay away from. The rest of it -- I enjoyed being a gunner,” Fergus said.

Fergus served two tours in Vietnam. “We flew the rivers trying to draw fire. Most of my war years I try to stay away from remembering. At least I came home in one piece. They nicked me once, but that was all,” Fergus said.

[Photos: Veterans Day 2019 ceremonies in Mat-Su]