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Ronald Lord

Col. (Ret.) Ronald Lord would sit on his porch, at the age of six, and watch P-51 Mustangs fly over his home in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Those fighter pilots were preparing to fight the Axis powers abroad, all the while – unbeknownst to them – preparing Lord to fight communist powers in Asia. During this time, to become a pilot in the United States Air Force one had to be at least 19 years old and pass a test to be accepted into training. “The desire to always be a fighter pilot and the leadership affected me throughout my career and inspired me,” Lord said. He would go on to prove his merit and fought hostile forces in the air above Hanoi and Haiphong where he engaged communist North Vietnamese MiGs. “I just never have found any reason why I would not want to have stayed in,” Lord said. “It was always dynamic and changing. If you didn’t care for what you were doing today then tomorrow, or a year down the road, you had the opportunity to go and do something else.”