COL. ROBERT SPONEYBARGER PASSES AWAY

  

A distinguished U.S. military veteran, whose name appears on the F-111 at Henderson Park in Brenham, has passed away.

Retired Col. Robert David Sponeybarger died on Wednesday, January 8, at the age of 84.

Sponeybarger was born on July 8, 1940 in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, and entered Officer’s Training School in 1962.

Sponeybarger later moved to Texas, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. From there, he underwent navigator training and was awarded his navigator wings at James Connally Air Force Base in Waco.

During the Vietnam War, Sponeybarger was deployed with the 429^th Tactical Fighter Squadron, a mission that he later received a Silver Star for.

In December of 1972, Sponeybarger, who was a captain at the time, flew an F-111, which struck a vital storage area in the heart of Hanoi destroying a significant quantity of stockpiled military supplies.

Suffering the loss of one engine over the target, Sponeybarger was still able to direct his aircraft out of the immediate Hanoi area before he was forced to eject.

He was subsequently captured by the North Vietnamese military, and was held captive as a POW until the Paris Peace Accords were signed. 

Capt. Sponeybarger was released from the Hanoi prison in March 1973, and flown back to the U.S.

Once recovered from his injuries, Sponeybarger continued his military career until his retirement after 26 years of service on September 1, 1988.

According to Don Holley of Brenham, who served with Sponeybarger in the 429^th, the aircraft on display in Henderson Park is painted and decaled exactly as the F-111 aircraft looked the day Capt. Sponeybarger was shot down, and his name is displayed on the canopy rail on the left side of the aircraft.

The F-111 was dedicated on November 11, 2018, in honor of Capt. Sponeybarger, Lt. Bill Wilson, and in memory of the 10 pilots who lost their lives during the air operations in the effort to release all POWs held in North Vietnam.

Col. Sponeybarger and his family, some of whom live in Brenham, were present at the event.  

A ceremony to honor Col. Sponeybarger’s service will be held by VFW Post 7104 tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:00 a.m., at the site of the F-111 in Henderson Park. 

The public is invited to attend.