GOODERMOTE, WAYNE KEITH

Name: Wayne Keith Goodermote
Rank/Branch: O4/United States Navy
Unit: RVAH 12
Date of Birth: 17 June 1943
Home City of Record: Troy NY
Date of Loss: 13 August 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 215100 North 1064500 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RA5C
Missions: 33
Other Personnel in Incident: Leo Hyatt, returnee

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Update in 2000 with information
received from Holy Cross College, Assistant Archivist, Ms. Jo-Anne Carr.

REMARKS: 730314 RELEASED BY DRV

SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
UPDATE - 09/95 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

WAYNE K. GOODERMOTE
Lieutenant- United States Navy
Shot Down: August 13, 1967
Released: March 14, 1973

I am the son of Loyal and Marion Goodermote of Berlin, New York; born in Troy,
New York on June 17, 1943. I attended the Berlin Central School and graduated
in 1961. A Naval Reserve Officer Candidate college scholarship came my way
and henceforth took me to the University of Rochester. I graduated with a
Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management and received my commission
in June 1965. After spending two months with VA-42 at Oceania, Virginia, I
entered Preflight/Naval Flight Officers School at Pensacola, Florida in
September of 1965 and completed this program in February 1966. After two
more Navy schools, I commenced training in May 1966 in the RA5C Vigilante as
a Reconnaisance Attack Navigator and began operational squadron duty
with RVAH-12 in January 1967. My squadron deployed in April 1967 aboard the
USS Constellation and on my 33rd mission on August 13,19671 was shot down
by anti-aircraft artillery.

These events summarize my "first life," and I say that quite honestly, because
I am very fortunate to be alive as neither Lt. Cdr. Hyatt, my pilot, nor I
remember ejecting from the aircraft. From this point forward captivity became
a matter of putting one foot in front of the other to live each day as it came
and to stay as physically and mentally fit as possible. Despite the many
so-called "black days" or "black periods" there were many positive factors
which I consider beneficial. I believe it was due to the aid of God and the
"hang-together" attitude of the men there that kept me going. Because of the
long periods spent locked inside and given nothing or little to do by my
captors, mental stagnation was a problem. However, it was to be overcome.
Hours of tapping on walls to each other, passing virtually all the information
we had learned during our lives. Later, when we lived in larger groups,
classes were held, covering every subject from languages and mathematics to
literature and music. Again this was normally accomplished without the aid of
books or training aids, except for those so ingeniously designed and hidden
from the Vietnamese by my fellow POWs.

The friendships made, the bits and pieces of information learned from each
other, the soul searching and self-insight, and a better understanding of the
psychological make-up of man, will all contribute to making my new life much
richer and more rewarding.

On March 14, 1973 it all ended as I stepped aboard that C-141 and began "life
two". Presently, "life two" finds me doing exactly those things that I dreamed
of doing during those years in captivity; attending the Navy's post-graduate
program at the University of Colorado. I am obtaining my Masters Degree in
Architecture, and upon completion in May of 1976, I will finish my career in
the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Regardless of where this realized
dream leads me, one thing is certain; "life two" will be filled with happiness
because of those things I learned in captivity and by once more being in
constant contact with those great people called "Americans"! God Bless You!

=====================================

The Knickerbocker News, Albany, NY
Feb 21, 1974

Metroland POWs after year of Freedom:
All stay in service as student or teacher
By Carol Schlageter Chady

" A year ago right now we were filled with the joy of hope and the agony of
fear," said Mrs. Loyal Goodermote of Berlin, recalling the wait for their
son's name to be announced as a homecoming Vietnam prisoner of war.

Navy Lt. Wayne Goodermote, 30, whose parents still live in the Rensselaer
County community where they waited, now is a master's student at the
University of Colorado, Boulder.

His mother says he hopes to earn his degree in architecture in three years.

Last March 31, after he had spent 5 « years as a prisoner, some 2000 jammed
the Berlin town square to welcome him home.

And Goodermote himself, interviewed by telephone, said he wants to stay away
from publicity and step - incognito - back into a normal life.

"I find a lot of the interest in my situation has been superficial, and I
think it is time for it to end," he commented.

But he did add: " I hope there is still concern in America about the 1,300
plus men still missing in action and the two Thai prisoners who should have
been released a long time ago. I hope some force will be applied to the
Vietnamese to take steps to get them released.

They were the sentiments echoed by his mother, who recalls last Christmas -
the first the family had spent with their son in eight years - but in the
same breath adds that her sorrow lingers on behalf of the families of men
still missing.

While Goodermote plans are to finish graduate school and continue his career
in the Navy, here is what other former prisoners of war with ties to
Metroland are doing now - almost a year after their return home: at

Air Force Lt. Col. Robert R. Craner, 40 son of Mrs. Grace Craner of Cohoes
and brother of John T. Craner of Cohoes, has been recertified as a pilot and
now lives with his wife and their two children in Worcester, Mass, where he
is with the military but attending Holy Cross College full time. His mother
said he is working toward a bachelor's degree in political science, and then
hopes to continue on to a master's degree. With his education, she says her
son "is keeping both options open."

====================================

Wayne Goodermote retired from the United States Navy as a Captain. He and
his wife Patty reside in California.

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