Wichita veteran recounts career taking intelligence photos for the Air Force
Ron Bogard is a native of Picher, Oklahoma, who migrated to Wichita and graduated from Wichita West High School in 1965. He joined the Air Force after getting drafted, and through his training, discovered what would become a lifelong passion.
'I didn't know a thing about photography. Nothing. Mom gave me a Kodak Brownie when I was about 10 years old, and I don't think I shot three rolls of film through it. But I went to tech school, and it turned out I had a talent for it,' he said.
Bogard was soon stationed at the base photolab at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, shooting everything from military ceremonies and portraits to medical photography and documenting deadly auto and industrial accidents.
'I've been able to put a lot of things away and keep them away. And I've done that for my whole career,' he said.
Bogard eventually received the call to head to Vietnam, and after completing additional training, including combat photography school, he was on his way, but he didn't stay long.
'I reported in, and the 1st sergeant came out and said, 'Bogard, go back over there, you're going to Thailand. We need aerial photographers in Thailand,'' he said.
Bogard says he didn't mind the safer assignment, where he continued to shoot photos from the air, as well as some impressive ones on the ground.
'I was there for President Johnson when he came. I was one of the photographers that took his pictures,' he said.
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Bogard was eventually sent back to Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, where he joined a photo mapping unit and soon found himself flying over numerous South American countries, creating aerial maps.
After taking an early discharge, Bogard returned to Wichita to attend Wichita State University. However, after getting married, he chose to re-enlist.
His second round with the Air Force sent him to Hill Air Force Base in Utah, where he photographed bomb and missile tests for the next nine years.
'Loved every minute of it. We raised our kids in the mountains and the deserts. We camped all the time,' Bogard said.
But he wasn't done gathering aerial intelligence overseas, and his next mission was a highly classified one in Germany.
'Our job was to spy on the East Germans and the Russians. We flew into the Berlin Corridor, flew around the Berlin Circle and then would fly out,' Bogard said.
He spent four years taking photos around the Berlin Wall and was eventually sent back to South Carolina, where he was in charge of aerial video and even wrote a training manual. However, when another overseas assignment came up, his wife put her foot down.
'The time came where we got an assignment to Panama. Brenda put her foot down, and I'm in Wichita,' Bogard said.
And while Bogard wrapped up his Air Force career in 1989 as a senior master sergeant, his love for photography continues to this day.
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