482nd's Charter Sponsors to the
Air Force Monument
The Air Force Memorial Groundbreaking and Site Dedication Ceremony took place Wednesday, September 15, 2004 at 2:30 pm.
Congressional legislation authorized the existence of the Air Force Memorial Foundation for the primary purpose of building the Air Force Memorial. The Foundation was incorporated in 1992 as a charitable, historical, and educational organization. The Foundation Chairman is Ross Perot, Jr. It has been granted 501 (C) (3) status by the Internal Revenue Service, making contributions tax exempt.
The Memorial was planned to be located approximately 600 feet south of the Iwo Jima Memorial and northeast of the Netherlands Carillon Memorial. However, since controversy continued concerning this location, the Air Force Memorial Foundation Board of Trustees considered it to be in the best interest of all parties to work with Congress and relocate to another site. The actual decision to relocate was contained in the 2002 Defense Authorization Bill. The memorial will now be located adjacent to Arlington Cemetery, at a promontory point of land known as the Naval Annex. The site offers a spectacular and unobstructed view of Washington D.C., overlooking the Pentagon from the southwest, and is located just off Interstate 395.
Construction on the memorial, designed by New York architect James Ingo Freed, will begin in 2004 and be completed in September 2006, coinciding with the 59th anniversary of the Air Force. The design features three soaring spires reaching heights of 270, 230, and 200 feet. This national memorial will salute the vast technological achievements of American airpower. A plat map, without explanation, was issued and can be seen here.
"Of interest to the 482nd is the information gained by the Foundation publishing a list of its contributors. If a 482nd member appears there, then obviously they were alive after 1992 ... and that makes the search for them much easier than starting in 1965. But I became interested in something else as I processed the names (which will take some time to complete).
"Several of the 482nd who donated funds are now deceased ... and likely knew that they would not live to see the monument's completion. For that reason, I decided to publish a partial and open-ended list of 482nd contributors. [It is partial because the donations were informal ... you could use rank, full name, initials, no rank, etc ... so it is sometimes difficult to tell to whom a name belongs when the middle initial is missing or the surname is common like Smith, Davis, or Johnson.]
"If someone knows that they have been omitted please contact me. I don't want to leave anyone out. It was an honor and source of personal pride to have served with such men."George C. Willick
[NOTE: A few names below have a following (?). It means that this particular name has several possible donors and needs a confirming or negative affirmation from the 482nd namesake.]
Col. Troy G. Alcorn
Mr. Robert L. Baker
Lt. Col. Robert Cain
Mr. Frederick E. Conable
Lawrence W. Conklin
Col. Leslie C. Conwell
Lt. Col. Warren L. Crawford (Ret)
Col. John B. Flagg (Ret)
Lt. Col. Kenneth W. Gero
Lt. Col. Macey J. Giannini (USAF ret)
Col. Dallas R. Hanna
Lt. Col. Carroll C. Hicks
Col. Jack J. Jeangerard
D. L. Kaufman
Col. James F. Martin (USAF Ret)
Mr. Richard M. McCabe
Lt. Col. Warner R. McGraw (USAF Ret)
Col. Howard H. McWhorter, Jr. (USAF Ret)
Lt. Col. Robert D. Mease
Lt. Col. Dwight D. Miles (USAF)
Col. George F. Myers
Lt. Col. Jimmy P. Rhodes
Col. Edward F. Smith
Vincent E. Stacy
Lt. Col. Laurel L. Statham (USAF Ret)
Hervey S. Stockman
Lt. Col. Robert W. Stonestreet (Ret)
Col. Jose E. Stuntz
James M. Thomas
James T. Winkler
Capt. (WWII) & M/Sgt Eugene D. Anderson
Mr. William S. Ferrell
WO4 Julian L. Wilbur
CMSgt Richard J. Abrams (USAF Ret)
Mr. Alfred L. Adams
Ovid Adcock
MSgt Allen P. Akey
TSgt Lowell E. Alderman (USAF Ret)
MSgt Theodore J. Baden (USAF Ret)
TSgt Donald R. Bell (Ret)
Mr. William Boyko (?)
SMSgt Jerry D. Briggs
MSgt Calvin W. Broadwater
Mr. Philip Call
Jerome H. Canady (?)
Mr. Donald M. Clark (?)
CMSgt Russell A. Cherry
Clarence A. Conerly
MSgt Shelton G. Copeland (USAF Ret)
MSgt Kenneth R. Czarnecki (Ret)
Mr. Jack L. Dacken
Charles F. Dalton
Mr. Patrick E. Dancy
Beecher Daniels
CMSgt John B. Davis (?)
Lee Downs
MSgt William G. Eldridge (Ret)
James E. Flanagan (?)
TSgt Joseph R. Goedde
Richard T. Gove
CMSgt Lawrence Robert 'Bob" Hahn USAF (Ret)
Harold E. Hamberger, Jr.
CMSgt James B. Henderson
MSgt Cecil D. Hill
Clarence T. Hoskins, Jr.
MSgt Curthue L. Johnson
Harvey D. Johnson
TSgt Robert O. Karr
SMSgt Norman W. Keesler (Ret)
SSgt Alfred K. Leeds
MSgt Roy Melvin Letchworth
MSgt Robert H. Love
CMSgt Basil E. Lybrand
MSgt Leonard H. Mantooth
Mr. Alfred Martin (?)
SSgt Samuel Morris Martin, Jr.
TSgt James E. McCarter
TSgt Leonard M. McCleary
TSgt Michael A. McCowan (Ret)
TSgt Elmer J. McDaniel
Mr. Ronald J. Murphy (?)
William E. Murphy
Mr. Raymond L. Myers
MSgt Donald P. Neville
MSgt James W. Newgent
MSgt Richard E. Newzell, Sr. (USAF Ret)
Mr. Arnold G. Nichols
SMSgt Paul M. Nichols
CMSgt Phil H. Norman
Mr. William G. Olson
SSgt Harold E. Parrish
Wilba Dan Pitts
MSgt Vitautas D. Pivoriunas
Billy E. Quillen
MSgt Winston M. Risner (USAF Ret)
SSgt Fred W. Ritzer
SMSgt Ralph L. Robledo (USAF Ret)
M/Sgt Everett E. Roe
MSgt Harlow R. Russell
Mr. John C. Shirley
William L. Shivers
TSgt Herman Sims
Charles L. Skipper
CMSgt Norman G. Smith (?)
MSgt Sidney A. Stayler
Mr. Billy R. Stewart (?)
TSgt Charles D. Sutter
TSgt Franklin Hanway Sword
MSgt Henry J. Sykes
Mr. Joseph J. Szekeresh
CMSgt Richard Telson (USAF Ret)
Donald E. Vaughan
SMSgt Franklyn Watts (USAF Ret)
CMSgt Earl E. Weber (Ret)
TSgt Kenneth E. Wilmot