"The Chief's Own" honors POW/MIA legacy, sacrifice
"You are not forgotten"
by Staff Sgt. Andy Stephens
11th Wing Public Affairs augmentee
"The Chief's Own" paid special honors Sept. 16 to the prisoners of war and service members missing in action with a daylong tribute. The names of 1,817 service members - from the Vietnam War to present day - who are unaccounted for in combat were read at the Bolling flag pole as part of the base's POW/MIA Recognition Day observance.
"We have a solemn responsibility and duty to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice," said Col. Duane A. Jones, Air Force District of Washington and 11th Wing commander, during the early-morning reveille ceremony. "Although all of us cognitively know that this has happened, know that this was a very big part of our nation's history, sometimes it's useful, sometimes it's helpful, to put a name, to put a face, to actually know someone who has gone through this great gift to their country."
Colonel Jones told the audience of a mission over Vietnam in September 1972. Two pilots, Maj. William "Wild Bill" Coltman and 1st Lt. Robert W. Brett, were flying an F-111 mission on the first night of operations for that aircraft in Southeast Asia. Their target was in Route Pack One in support of Operation Linebacker II. Call sign Ranger 23 wasn't heard from again. The two pilots were declared missing in action. For more than 25 years, the families of the two pilots were left not knowing of their loved one's final fates until a crash site was found, remains were excavated, and the identities of the pilots were confirmed.
Lt. Col. Kimberly Coltman, currently assigned to Bolling, was 12 years old when her father, Wild Bill Coltman, disappeared. She read the first names at the POW/MIA vigil "in remembrance of those who served, those who paid the price, and the families that were left behind."
In the audience was a retired chief master sergeant, 80-year-old William A. Tippins. During World War II, he was captured twice by the Germans, escaping both times only for the Russians to take him prisoner until the final days of the war. His body erect, his head held high, the corners of his mouth slowly rose in a smile as the flag settled into place for the day. Chief Tippins became one of the thousands who created the separate Air Force that celebrated its 58th birthday Sept. 18; he acknowledged that many of his peers never had that chance.
"I'm very glad to be here for this," said Chief Tippins, dressed in his 1960s-era Air Force service-dress uniform. On his chest, medals and devices reflected a life lived long and well beyond his days as a POW, from returning to Germany after the war to assist with the Berlin Airlift to working for Gen. Curtis E. LeMay at the Pentagon.
Staff Sgt. Simorrah J. Brown, 11th Wing Command Post, saw the ceremony with a different perspective, but no less reverent. In one of her past assignments, she served in a special-duty position as a combat search-and-rescue controller, helping plan missions that bring POWs home and find MIAs. The recognition ceremony hit home the point that not every recovery mission succeeds in bringing home a parent or someone's child.
"[POWs and MIAs] are basically just people like you and me who were caught up in an extraordinary situation," said Sergeant Brown. "That to me is real service before self. It's a really good feeling to be out here, for those ... that have sacrificed for the greater good. It's overwhelming. My heart goes out to them."
Senior Master Sgt. Ron Olszewski, the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard first sergeant, explained why it's important to go the extra mile to recognize the 1,817 service members, whom their country honors. He said it is a tradition today's Air Force must maintain and a legacy all Airmen must live up to.
"It's not just for the individuals, but the families of those people who wait around for many years, not knowing what happened to their husbands or fathers," Sergeant Olszewski said. "We believe that what we've begun here today can continue on as a part of our tradition."