As a veteran, a product of School District 9-R and a 1966 graduate of Durango High School, I write this letter about three Durango heroes who should be remembered. Not me – all I did was fly my missions and survive – but three from the DHS class of 1966.
In no particular order:
Mike Valdez: Quiet, never bragged, a hero in Vietnam, he is still strong enough to handle a Harley hog.
Billy Higgins was a star athlete at DHS, multiple tours Southeast Asia and was highly decorated. He died of a heart attack shortly after retiring from the Air Force.
Mike Dunaway: Imagine crawling into an underground tunnel, in a jungle, in a faraway country with who knows what in the tunnel? The enemy wanting to kill you? Snakes, giant rats? Flooded tunnels to drown you? That’s what Mike did for a year in the Army in Vietnam.
Mike and his lovely wife, Linda, were recently killed in a helicopter crash.
There are others from DHS Class of ’66: C. Malburg, Mike Myers (deceased). To these and all the others, my abject apologies for not including you.
To all Durango veterans of all the wars then and now: Thank you! And to all the families of the veterans: Thank you!
David Watkins
Redington Shores, Fla.
