Adrian Cronauer of Troutville, Va., a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) life member and well-known Vietnam War veteran, died July 18, 2018. He was 79.
Cronauer was the inspiration for a charcater in the 1987 movie “Good Morning, Vietnam,” portrayed by actor Robin Williams. Cronauer was an U.S. Air Force sergeant who hosted the Armed Forces Radio morning show, “Dawn Buster,” based in Saigon from 1965 to 1966.
Cronauer opened each program with what has become an iconic phrase, “Goooood morning, Vietnam!”
After his overseas service, Cronauer served as an adviser to the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2009. In 2005 he attended VFW’s national convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, and accepted the VFW’s Gold Medal and Citation on behalf of the men and women who worked for the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, forerunner of today’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
“We are most gratified that the leadership and membership of the VFW would recognize in this way the dedication and commitment to the fullest possible accounting,” Cronauer told the crowd in Salt Lake City. “May God bless you, the great nation we serve and the men and women still unaccounted for. Make no mistake, our commitment is to bring them home.”
He was also on the board of the National D-Day Memorial and served two terms as a trustee of the Virginia War Memorial. Cronauer belonged to VFW Post 1841 in Daleville, Va.
