Wayne Goodermote was born in 1943 in Troy, New York and grew up in Berlin, New York. He was commissioned through the Navy ROTC program at the University of Rochester on June 9, 1965, and completed Naval Flight Officer School in February 1966. Following operational training, he joined RVAH-12 "Speartips" in January 1967 as a Reconnaissance Attack Navigator, flying in the RA-5C Vigilante. He began flying combat missions over North Vietnam off the USS Constellation in May 1967, and was shot down by enemy gunfire on his 33rd combat mission on August 13, 1967. Following 2,040 days as a Prisoner of War, he was repatriated on March 14, 1973. Captain Goodermote subsequently attended the University of Colorado where he received a Masters Degree in Architecture in May 1976, and began a new career in the Navy Civil Engineering Corps. From June 1976 to June 1979, he held positions as Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, and later as Assistant Officer in Charge of Construction for Design and Engineering at the Trident Submarine Base in Bangor, Washington. He was the Production Officer at the U.S. Navy Public Works Center on Guam from July 1979 to August 1981, and then Head of the Facilities Planning and Real Estate Department on the staff of the Pacific Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command. From June 1983 to July 1985, he was Commanding Officer of Amphibious Construction Battalion One in Coronado, California. Following attendance at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., Captain Goodermote spent two years as Acquisition Manager for Sealift Support Facilities at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Alexandria, Virginia. From June 1988 to June 1991, he was the Officer in Charge of the Broadway Complex Redevelopment Project in San Diego, California. Captain Goodermote retired from the Navy on August 17, 1991. He later worked for private sector construction management and environmental engineering firms, and retired for the second time in 1997. Wayne is married to the former Patricia Crane Powers of Denver, Colorado.

His Silver Star Citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. On 18 August 1967, his captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.