<p>
My husband, <em>Duncan</em>, was born 7 November 1920 in Washington, D.C. at Walter Reed Hospital. The youngest of three children and the only son born to Colonel (then Major) Resolve Potter and Carol Palmer, he grew up in a military environment. His younger years were spent in Washington, D.C.; Omaha, Nebraska; the Philippines; and Panama.</p>
<p>
He graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy and attended Millard's Preparatory School in D.C., and Ohio University. He was appointed to West Point by U.S. Representative Andrew E. Edmiston, 3rd District, West Virginia.</p>
<p>
During the years at West Point he read of the war we were engaged in and became eager for graduation. He chose the Army Air Corps and took his primary and basic pilot training in Chickasha, Oklahoma and Stewart Field, New York in the spring and summer of 1943. His goal was to fly fighters.</p>
<p>
After graduation he was sent to many bases, to complete his flight training before reporting to the 348th Fighter Group in the Philippines—then on to Io-Shima and Osaka, Japan. It was here that he met 2d Lieutenant Anna Marie Horn, an Army nurse.</p>
<p>
After the required letter of permission to marry, they married on 2 April 1946. They enjoyed a honeymoon in Kyoto before Dune went to the 475th Fighter Group in Korea and Anna went home for her discharge and to await orders to join him in Korea as a dependent.</p>
<p>
In a letter from Korea he wrote, “For the past 10 years, I have had a continuous desire to be a good officer. I never did, and for that matter still don’t, care whether or not I am what you call a successful officer—just a good officer.” So many times during his career he proved to be that good officer, always giving a little extra of himself.</p>
<p>
After two years in the States, Dune returned to Korea. He was assigned to the 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and was shot down on 20 April 1951 while flying an armed reconnaissance mission over North Korea. At one time during his captivity he refused to cooperate with the enemy and was put in a small hole in the ground for 72 days. They were not able to break him. He was put before a firing squad, but they did not shoot and still he did not break. He was repatriated on 6 September 1953. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his resistance against the enemy and the Air Medal for combat missions over Korea.</p>
<p>
He took an early retirement in 1965 in Wichita, Kansas and went on to earn his master’s in accounting and his CPA certificate. He taught accounting at Wichita State University until 1984 when he took his final retirement.</p>
<p>
Dune was a good man as well as the good officer he wanted to be, and he was respected by all who knew him. We had a wonderful life together, and I am proud to have been his wife.</p>
<p>
<em>Ann Palmer</em></p>