(Brad Davis/The Register-Herald) Retired Navy pilot Herbert Wheeler shows off a hat he wears frequently featuring the Navy wings with cable hook, symbolizing his status as a carrier lander. He has 187 combat missions in Vietnam between August 1968 and May 1970 to his credit to go along with seven and a half months in Desert Storm before retiring as a National Guard Wing Commander in Charleston in 2000. On his 199th mission in Vietnam, his plane went down in northern Laos. He was eventually rescued, but his co-pilot was taken prisoner and was ultimately one of only a handful of captured pilots out of hundreds in Laos to ever return home sometime later. He currently serves as VP of the board at the Raleigh County Airport.