Leroy Manor

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Leroy J. Manor flew over Normandy during D-Day and was commander of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Force. In 1970, Manor was called upon to command the contingency task force for Operation Ivory Coast, the Son Tay raid. He was tasked with spearheading a plan to raid a camp in North Vietnam. They had two objectives:

Howard Johnson

Colonel (Ret.) Howard Johnson was a fighter pilot who flew more than 7,000 hours in 15 different airframes during his career. Early on, Johnson trained World War II aircrew in the art of aerial gunnery, preparing America’s B-17, B-24 and B-29 heavy bomber crews for combat. Eager to make the transition to combat, Johnson volunteered to fly in the

Gloria Heath

WASP Gloria Heath competed against 25,000 applicants to become one of 1,074 women selected to be part of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). Heath was stationed at Pocatello, Idaho, where she flew B-26 bombers at 6,000 feet, towing targets for P-47 fighter pilots who trained by firing live ammunition. Her contributions to aviation didn’t

George Hays

Colonel (Ret.) George Hays started his military career wanting to keep a family tradition of military service, ultimately spending more than 40 years of duty in the Air Force. He served in Vietnam and Thailand as an enlisted communications specialist during the Vietnam War. He then attended Officer Training School as a technical sergeant in 1982.

James Harvey III

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) James Harvey III was one of the original members of the world famous “Tuskegee Airmen.” Born in Montclair, N.J., in 1923, he was drafted into the Army in April 1943. He was initially assigned to the Army Air Corps engineers but always dreamed of flying. Harvey was later accepted for flight training and graduated from

Carl Hackworth

Master Sergeant (Ret.) Carl Hackworth fondly remembers what would be the start of a 22 year career in the Air Force. “If you can guarantee me I can work on airplanes, I’ll go in right now,” he told an Air Force recruiter in 1955. After scoring highly on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, it was a done deal. From Moody Air Force

Henry P. Fowler

Colonel (Ret.) Henry P. Fowler served in the Air Force for 27 years as a pilot and a Judge Advocate. He was a prisoner of war at the “Hanoi Hilton” in Vietnam. He completed F-4 Phantom II combat crew training in 1966 and was assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand. On Easter Sunday 1967, Fowler and three other F-4Cs

Alfred Flowers

Major General (Ret.) Alfred Flowers enlisted in the Air Force in August 1965, and was stationed at Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam, as an air transportation specialist during the Tet Offensive of 1968. “My first few months in Vietnam were unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, unlike anything I could imagine,” Flowers said. “The number of young Americans

Arthur Cobert

Gunnery Sergeant (Sept.) Arthur T. Cobert is an Army Air Corps veteran who served as a flight engineer, gunner and backup pilot on the B-25 bomber during World War II. He enlisted in March 1943 and was honorably discharged from service in December 1945 after being wounded. He was a member of the 11th Bomb Squadron, also known as the Jiggs Squadron,

Robert Cardenas

General (Ret.) Robert Cardenas made his mark on history as one of American’s premier test pilots, a combat leader in both bombers and fighters, and as the first commander of the Air Force Special Operations Force. Born in Mexico in 1920, he started his aviation career at age 17 by fling gliders. In 1944, he joined the 44th Bombardment Group in