Mystery/Puzzle Cache placed in honor of Captain Lance P. Sijan, United States Air Force, who graduated from the nearby United States Air Force Academy. DO NOT GO TO THE POSTED COORDINATES...there's nothing there to see except a bunch of trees. Read to the bottom to figure out how to find the container.
Captain Lance P. Sijan was born on April 13, 1942, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended the U.S. Naval Academy Prep School from July 1960 to March 1961. He then entered the U.S. Air Force Academy in June 1961, and was commissioned a 2d Lt in the Air Force on June 9, 1965. After completing pilot training and F-4 Phantom II combat crew training, Capt Sijan began flying combat missions in Vietnam with the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Da Nang AB, South Vietnam, in July 1967. He was forced to eject from his stricken aircraft over North Vietnam on November 9, 1967, and even though he was badly injured during ejection, Capt Sijan managed to evade capture for 46 days before finally being taken as a Prisoner of War on Christmas Day, December 25, 1967. He managed a brief escape, but was quickly recaptured and taken to Hanoi, where he was severely tortured and died in captivity in the hands of a brutal enemy on January 22, 1968. His remains were returned to the United States in 1974 and he was buried at Arlington Park Cemetery in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconcsin. Capt Sijan was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism as a Prisoner of War, and he was the first (and so far only) Air Force Academy graduate to have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
Captain Lance P. Sijan, United States Air Force
Born: 13 April 1942 - Died in Captivity: 22 January 1968
Prisoner of War, North Vietnam
25 December 1967 - 22 January 1968
In order to solve the coordinates to the final, figure the following:
N 38 54.ABC W 104 59.DEF
A = The number of Bronze Star Medals that Captain Sijan was awarded.
B = The number of Air Medals that Captain Sijan was awarded, minus 3.
C = The last digit of the year that Captain Sijan returned to American Soil.
D = The last digit of the year that Captain Sijan was captured.
E = The number of years that Captain Sijan lived after graduating from the Air Force Academy (rounded up).
F = The total number of Silver Stars that Captain Sijan was awarded during his Air Force Career.
Once you have the final figured out, you are looking for an old favorite type of container from the earliest days of geocaching...with a slight twist! The high terrain rating takes into account someone trying to hike/climb up the mountain instead of doing it the easy way (paying the toll to drive up the road). Please watch for muggles driving by and replace exactly as you found it (including seating the lid on firmly). The cache is placed below the problem areas of altitude sickness which occur much higher up the road (this one is at 8,792 feet above sea level).
P.S. I have a local friend maintaining the cache for me between visits, but due to the cache's remote location, feel free to replace or add another log if the original gets full. Cache placed with permission.
It's a good idea to call (719) 385-7325 (Option 1, then Option 1) before heading up to Pikes Peak to find out the current conditions on the mountain. The cache is located below the area that is most prone to getting blocked off due to weather conditions.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Additional Waypoints
VT History Cache #41 - Captain Lance P. Sijan
| Difficulty: 
| Terrain: 
7 
2