Russell Manning Vifquain Jr., of Ames, was the son of ISU agronomy professor Russell Vifquain. 

Vifquain attended Iowa State from 1936 to 1940, majoring in engineering. He pledged Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and was on the 1939 Big Six championship golf team. 

He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps. in 1940 and was later commissioned as a second lieutenant in April 1941. Vifquain spent 18 months in Alaska, — a strategic route to invade Japan — during World War II. He flew more than 30 bombing missions during his service.

Vifquain and 11 crewmates were on one of his flights en route to the island of Iwo Jima when several engines failed and all members were forced to abandon the plane. Some crew landed on the island, but others were in the water up to seven miles offshore. Ten were rescued, but Vifquain was among those lost.