Plaque, ceremony to honor MIA soldier Widner

A service to honor Danny Lee Widner, a brother and member of the community in Graham who has been in missing in action from the Vietnam War almost 49 years, will be held on Saturday, May 13, at 2 p.m. at the Pioneer Cemetery gazebo. The service will have speakers from the Graham Presbyterian Church and the Graham Veterans of Foreign Wars, and will lead into a graveside ceremony at Pioneer Cemetery. For Widner’s brother, Don, and his sister, Vicki Gannon, this is a way to give their brother a place at home. “This whole thing has been Don (Widner) doing something for his brother because we never could do it. You know, there was never an opportunity and it’s something we want to get done before we’re gone,” Gannon said. Danny was a 1961 graduate of Graham High School and 25 years old when he went MIA during the battle of Kham Duc in the Vietnam War. The Kham Duc special forces camp was on the Laos ocean border and was the last special forces camp to be raided and destroyed that was involved in Laos missions, Gannon said. For the rest of this story, subscribe to our print or online edition.