Chief Warrant Officer Third Class Thomas Frederick Riggs

Early Life

Thomas Frederick Riggs was born on July 24, 1946, in Wayne, Michigan, to Charles Frederick Riggs and Velma Mae Spangler Riggs. Thomas had three siblings: two older siblings, Donald and Jessalyn, and a younger brother, Eric. 

Thomas Riggs attended Okemos High School in Okemos, Michigan, and graduated in 1964. He participated in the debate club, the wrestling team, and the track team. While in high school, Thomas worked at a pizza parlor, but his family stated that Thomas found it hard to work somewhere that would not help or support the hungry with the leftover food they had each day, so he quit working there. 

His family stated that he was a kind, loving soul who would help anyone in need. They also mentioned that he had a daredevil side that would often lead to getting in predicaments of one sort or another. 

Thomas Riggs attended college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and received his degree in business from Ferris State University. After Riggs graduated from college, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama. 

While stationed there, he married Sandra Riggs in September 1966. Thomas and Sandra did not have any children together. Sandra was pregnant when they married, just not with Thomas’ child. Thomas married Sandra to be the father figure to the unborn child that Sandra was carrying. After Thomas was sent to Vietnam, Sandra moved in with Thomas’ parents, and they supported her while Thomas was in Vietnam.

Homefront

Thomas Riggs grew up in Farmington, Michigan, whose downtown area is considered a historic district. The area was originally settled by Quakers in 1842, and by the twentieth century, it was part of the Detroit metropolitan area.

During the Vietnam War, Detroit factories supplied tanks, vehicles, weapons, and other military equipment. Many people from Farmington commuted to Detroit to work in the factories to support the supply of military materials.

Operation Shovel

During the 1970s, Farmington, Michigan, changed from a small rural to a suburban area. The population saw a 50% increase from 6,881 people in 1960 to 10,329 residents in 1970. Despite the population increase, the roads were mainly paved with dirt, with no ditches for drainage when it rained. On rainy days, Farmington would declare “mud days” with school closures. Members of the community worked together to dig drainage ditches when 22 residents pitched in money to rent a ditch digger. This became known as “Operation Shovel.”

Military Experience

Thomas Frederick Riggs enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Rucker in Alabama. Here, he completed air crew training to become a pilot of an assault helicopter, the Bell Iroquois Utility Helicopter (UH-1D). Riggs’s call sign was Bamboo Viper 47. 

Riggs was assigned to Company C, 227^th Aviation Battalion, 11^th Aviation Group, 1^st Cavalry Division (Airborne). This unit provided air mobility for the infantry units. Riggs deployed to Qui Nhon, South Vietnam and left in spring 1967 to Qui Nhon, South Vietnam. 

On June 11, 1967, Riggs was sent on a mission out of Qui Nhon towards the Binh Dinh Province. The helicopter radioed for assistance after encountering a storm. Struggles with a new electric compass left the team relying on a paper map to locate a stranded pilot. Later, they radioed that they were out of fuel and needed to land on the water. No further communications were received. It is believed that the helicopter crashed in the South China Sea. Search and rescue efforts were unsuccessful. 

Commemoration

Thomas Riggs was a Chief Warrant Officer Second Class when he went Missing in Action (MIA). Posthumously, he was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Third Class. 

Riggs was officially declared dead on June 11, 1974. His family held a service for Thomas in Southfield, Michigan, seven years after he was declared MIA. 

Thomas Riggs’ name can be found on the Michigan Veterans Memorial Park wall of names in Lansing, Michigan. He is honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Panel 21E, Line 92. 

Thomas Riggs is memorialized on Court B of the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Riggs’ high school alumni association maintains information on its website dedicated to him. 

Thomas Riggs is remembered by his family as being kind, loving, and generous. Thomas’ family mentioned that when he was married to his wife Sandy, out of the love and kindness that he had, Thomas married her so that her unborn child would have a father figure when he came home from Vietnam.

According to Thomas’ family, he was a daredevil. Thomas’ family mentioned that because the Bell Iroquois Utility Helicopter was the most dangerous helicopter, that’s what he wanted to do in the Army. 

Thomas’ sacrifices have not been forgotten, and he is remembered, thought of often, and missed by his family.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Map of Farmington. Map. 1896. Library of Congress (2007626868). https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4113om.gla00047/?q=michigan&sp=13&st=image. 

Ohio. Montgomery County. 1950 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com. 

“Pentagon Says 5 Men Died in Southeast Asia.” The Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY], June 10, 1973.  https://www.okemosalumni.org/000/4/8/8/29884/userfiles/file/1964_Files/Riggs%2CTom%201964.pdf. 

Riggs, Don. Telephone interview with author. February 27, 2025.

Riggs Family Photographs. Courtesy of Don Riggs.

Sturtz Prokop, Jessalyn F. Telephone interview with author. February 28, 2025.

“They Live in Suspended Animation.” Detroit Free Press [Detroit, MI], January 5, 1975. https://www.okemosalumni.org/000/4/8/8/29884/userfiles/file/1964_Files/Riggs%2CTom%201964.pdf. 

Thomas F. Riggs. Alabama, U.S., Marriage Index 1800-1969. https://www.ancestry.com/. 

Thomas F. Riggs. U.S., Select Military Registers 1862-1985. https://www.ancestry.com/. 

Secondary Sources

“CW3 Thomas Frederick Riggs.” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed February 21, 2025. https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KZA1EAO .

“CWO Thomas Frederick Riggs.” Find a Grave. Updated October 9, 2012. Accessed January 2, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98549472/thomas-frederick-riggs. 

“Down and Dirty: How the 1970s Farmington Got Mired in the Mud and How ‘Operation Shovel’ Pulled Them Out.” Preservation Farmington. Updated January 20, 2017. Accessed February 7, 2025. https://preservationfarmington.org/2017/01/20/operation-shovel/. 

“Downtown History.” Downtown Farmington Downtown Development Authority. Accessed January 26, 2025. https://www.downtownfarmington.org/resources/about_downtown/downtown_history.php. 

“A History of the Farmington Community.” Farmington Community Local Library History & Genealogy Resources. Accessed February 7, 2025. http://history.farmlib.org/heritagecollection/community_history.html. 

“In Memoriam: Thomas Frederick ‘Tom’ Riggs – Class Of 1964.”  Okemos Alumni Association. Accessed January 4, 2025. https://www.classcreator.com/Okemos-Michigan-1965/class_profile.cfm?member_id=7539001. 

“Thomas Frederick Riggs.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed December 26, 2024. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/riggs%3Dthomas. 

“Thomas Frederick Riggs.” Honor States. Accessed January 4, 2025. https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/294826/. 

“Thomas Frederick Riggs.” The Wall of Faces, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Accessed January 4, 2025. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/43442/THOMAS-F-RIGGS/page/2/. 

“Riggs, Thomas Frederick.” POW Network. Accessed January 4, 2025. https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/r/r059.htm. 

“Vietnam War 50th Year Commemoration.” U.S. Army. Accessed October 18, 2024. https://www.army.mil/vietnamwar/history.html.

“Where Farmington Began.” Historical Marker Database. Updated December 29, 2020. Accessed March 27, 2025. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=162279.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.