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Years after Vietnam, Chanhassen buries a hero . . '\" Years after Vietnam, Chanhassen buries a hero . By Dean Trippler EDITOR It was a sunny Friday in April of 1988. The snow had melted, but it was chilly. Spring looked to be around the corner. The little town of Chanhassen was growing, moving ahead. . But there was something from the past that needed finishing. A memory of a time of war, conflict and heroism had to be laid to' rest. . Twenty-~hree years prior, a 35-year- . old Navy pilot, Lt.Commander Trent Powers, winged his A-4E assault aircraft off the deck of a United States Navy aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin into the haze of a Southeast Asian day. At 9:45 a.m.. on Oct. 31, he led eight . U.S. assault' aircraft in a combat assault tnission thr:ough a North Vietnamese valley laced 'with Communist army units. Over Ho Bac Province about 35 miles northeast of Hanoi, his flight encountered imti-alrcraft artillery tire from the ground. Rounds peppered the sky, and Powers' plane was hit. According to the Pentagon, another pilot saw Powers eject from his aircraft and parachute to safety. The official report indicated Powers waved saying he was unharmed and an emergency radio beacon was heard during his descent. . That was the last that was seen of Trent Powers. : Alice Powers, Trent Powers' mother, had sent her SOl1 packages and letters, but they were all returned. . The end of the war came, and.. when all of the U.S. prisoners of war were released, Lt. Commander Powers was still missing and presumed dead. In fact, it he probably died from ground fire shortly after he reached the North Vietnamese soil. . In 1987, Alice Powers learned that i:emains taken from Vietnam in 1985 belonged to her son and five other aviators missing in action. The report at that time was that the u.s. Army's Ce~tral Identification Laboratory in . Hawaii was unsuccessful in identifying the remains for two years after they were brought back to the United States, . .thus the time lag. . The irony of Powers' being shot down was that his mission on Oct. 31, 1965, was to have been his last over North Vietnam. His cousin, Lois .. STAFf PHOTOBV DEAN TRlPPLER The last resting place of Lt. Commander Trent Powers is at the Pioneer. Cemetery in Chanhassen near the graves of his grandparents. O'Dowd, said that Powers was to have been transferred to Europe immediately after his ill-fated flight. "It was very eerie when I heard about that,". she said. O'Dowd remembers that Powers was a generous man. She recalled that several years later, after she was married and Powers was listed as missing in action, she received a package at her home one day. It was a wedding present that Powers had bought for her in Japan. His mother, Alice, had kept it, waiting for the day when Powers would come hom~ a~d be able to present. it to his cousm m person. But that time never came. Alice Powers, who has since died, said in a Minneapolis Star. Tribune story in February of 1988 that it was a rdief to finally know the fate of her son. ''We know that it happened, that he died. We won't be wondering all the . time, and that means a great deal to the entire family," she was quoted as saying. "I really don't see how it could be otherwise. And I would rather have news that he was gone than that he had been held prisoner and tortured." The decision was made to bury ..Powers in a grave next to his grandpar- ents here in Chanhassen's Pioneer Cemete~y. Some 35 people attended the small funeral, complete with. full military honors and a 21-gun salute. One of the men attendIng the funeral was Jim Hesselgravewhc wore a . bracelet with Powers' name on it, a commemoration of those who were listed as missing in action in the Viet- nam War. He had worn that braCelet . ... , for 12 years. .z "I don't show up for theS~ much," .... Hesselgrave said in a Star Tribu~ story. after the funeral service. "Mer ~ years~ I had to come and say goodbyem . ... someone I didn't reallYkn~"""I;'. ... And on April 15, 1988;tt~S. - vy Lt. Commander Trent Richacci.po. 's WllS finally home, for good. .. .. . . . I . . ~. .. .~ .~ ~~:i' ~. ~