EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE — The Military Order of the Purple Heart's Sgt. Timothy Padgett Chapter 811 next week will present its Annual Wall of Florida Fallen Heroes enshrinement.

The public event — which honors Florida residents who made the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom since Sept. 11, 2001 — is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Jan. 17 at the USAF Armament Museum on Eglin Air Force Base.

The ceremony will include a reading of the Okaloosa County Proclamation naming January 2015 Okaloosa County Military Purple Heart Month.

In addition, Northwest Florida Blue Stars Mothers' Chapter 7 will present Gold Star Banners to families who have lost their loved ones. Gold Star families will read the names and a candle will be lit for each Florida resident who made the ultimate sacrifice during 2014. All Gold Star families present will be formally introduced to the assembly.

Business casual or duty uniform is the requested attire.

Contact Sam Houston, chapter commander, at 729-2748 or shh1100@cox.net, for more details.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Wall of Florida Fallen Heroes ceremony set for Jan. 17

CRESTVIEW — Albert Flowers, who grew up in Crestview, signed up with the U.S. Naval Reserve on June 14, 1943 at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

He soon was assigned to the U.S.S. Intrepid — an aircraft carrier commissioned Aug. 16 — as a steward’s mate, a position that many black warriors held during the war.

The next year, he made history.

KAMIKAZE ATTACK

In 1944, Flowers, promoted to steward’s mate first class, was assigned an action station as a crewman of a 20-mm. anti-aircraft armored cannon post, or “tub.”

By then, the Japanese had resorted to kamikaze attacks, in which a pilot would crash a plane with explosives into American ships.

On Oct. 29, 1944, as Flowers sprang into action, his duty took on an unexpected intensity.

“When a group of Japanese dive bombers launched a violent attack against the Intrepid and one fanatical pilot attempted a suicide dive on the ship, Flowers remained steadfast at his station, and although it was apparent during the last phase of the dive that the enemy craft would strike the tub, bravely continued his efficient performance of duty until the plane crashed,” Flowers’ presidential citation stated.

“The captain looked up and he saw the Japanese coming and he saw the planes coming right at the boat,” Albert Flowers Jr., the veteran's son, said. “My father ran up there and he grabbed the 20-mm. and he started shooting. He got shot but he just kept shooting. He started shooting and he wouldn’t stop shooting.”

Flowers Jr. said his father told him that he had to lower a seriously wounded comrade out of the tub to be able to man the gun.

“I imagine the captain on that boat knew what my father did,” Flowers Jr. said. “He said he saved them from sure death.”

'HE SAVED AMERICA'

Albert Flowers Sr. was again wounded on March 18, 1945, during the Okinawa Gunto Operation, which preceded the Battle of Okinawa.

After the war, he became a Florala, Ala., police officer, and owned a nightclub called the High Chaparral in Paxton. He died July 15, 2001.

Flowers Jr., said his father was modest about his war experiences.

“He just told me he shot down some planes and he won some medals and he came home and a lot of people were hugging him,” Flowers Jr. said.

Actually, his dad earned the Bronze Star, one of wartime’s highest honors, for action in the Pacific on Oct. 29, 1944.

And Flowers' heroism resounded around the country. Once, at a Chicago restaurant, his son said, he met some World War II Navy veterans. “I asked them if they had ever heard of Al Flowers,” he said. “Would you believe three of them had? ‘He was a real hero,’" they said.

On another occasion, "one lady said he saved America," Flowers Jr. said.

'THAT WAS AMAZING'

Flowers Jr. has purchased a commemorative brick at the Okaloosa County Veterans Memorial to honor his father and his military service. He has invited U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller to the Feb. 21 dedication ceremony, which is open to the public.

The battle during which his father’s heroism may well have saved the aircraft carrier — now a museum ship in New York — still staggers his imagination, Flowers Jr. said.

“How can you imagine — with … all that shouting and shooting and the smoke and noise — imagine being in the face of all that and have the presence of mind to grab a gun, and actually stop what was trying to hurt you,” he said. “That was amazing.”

“By his determined and courageous efforts in the face of almost certain death, Flowers materially aided in diverting the enemy plane from crashing on the flight deck,” Flowers Sr.’s Bronze Star commendation from President Harry S. Truman stated. “His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

Albert Flowers Jr.’s praise of his father is a bit simpler.

“To me, he was my hero,” he said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Brick-laying ceremony honoring World War II Bronze Star recipient Albert Flowers Sr.

WHEN: 10 a.m. Feb. 21

WHERE: Okaloosa County Veterans Memorial on the corner of Main Street and Courthouse Terrace, Crestview

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'He was my hero': Pavement brick to honor WWII Bronze Star recipient

U.S. Army Private 2nd Class Natalie Booker would attribute graduating U.S. Army Basic and Military Police training — what could have been characterized as a bumpy start — to her uncanny ability to "embrace the suck."

It's a phrase common to the young recruits of Echo Company, 14th Military Police Brigade, 701 Battalion, Military Police Corps Regiment, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Booker, a 2014 Baker School graduate, departed for training in early August and returned Dec. 21. Her Advance Individual training introduced her to law-enforcement skills for war, peace, stability and civil support operations as a Military Police solder. Training was rigorous and trying for all those in Echo Company. 

Booker, while serving as a bay chief of 30 female soldiers, spent countless hours helping others get through the demanding schedule. 

Drill instructors, noticing the potential of the former Baker School JROTC battalion commander, loaded her with additional tasks along the way. 

Her extra effort culminated in the presentation of a challenge coin by one of her toughest DI’s, as well as countless new friendships made along the way. 

Christmas came early for Booker on two accounts: first was in the form of her first duty assignment being on the island of O’ahu, Hawaii.   Second was being able to spend the next two weeks with a proud gathering of family and friends before she relocates to Hawaii.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker alumna assigned to first Army duty in Hawaii

CRESTVIEW — Over a U.S. Air Force career of more than 30 years, Lt. Col. Johnie Courtney has seen the evolution of air combat and has witnessed more than one historic event.

“His first flight was a Curtiss Jenny,” Courtney’s son Paul said. “His last flight was an F-4 jet.”

The difference? About 800-900 miles an hour, and even more if the F-4 pilot really opens the throttle.

In between, Johnie Courtney landed behind Gen. Erwin Rommel’s lines in Africa, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for the bombing campaign over Monte Cassino, got shot down but evaded capture in Italy, escorted an atomic bomb mission to Japan, was a Berlin Airlift pilot, became one of the nation’s first combat jet fighter pilots, and trained with Chuck Yeager and the men with “The Right Stuff.”

“After I hear some of his stories, I’m surprised I’m even here,” his oldest son, John Courtney Jr., said.

Monday, Johnie Courtney turns 96.

“No, it’s 69,” Courtney joked. “I’m going the other way now.”

DESIRE FOR WINGS

Before entering the fledgling U.S. Army Air Corps — “There was no Air Force when I started. It was all Army” — on Aug. 18, 1937, Courtney’s ambition was to become a flyer.

He really wanted an appointment to West Point, but despite having the grades, he was missing a congressional appointment. However, his congressman expected the poor Baker family to buy it.

That wasn't possible, so Courtney enlisted at Fort Barrancas and was sent to Panama to defend the canal. Returning stateside for training, he found the Army would take a limited number of enlisted men in a new flying program.

“Then, things started getting hot in Europe,” Courtney said. His squadron of 16 men blossomed to more than 200 as the Air Corps rapidly expanded to face the growing threat of war.

“Finally they said, ‘You’re going to flying school,’” Courtney, by then a sergeant major, said.

OFF TO WAR

After training at Kelly Field, Texas, “the prime spot of the Air Force at that time,” Courtney and his squadron of new P-38 Lightnings headed for North Africa.

Flying off the aircraft carrier “Ranger,” Courtney saw action throughout the entire campaign. Once, he landed behind Afrika Korps lines at a desert airfield mistakenly marked as Allied.

“Patton hadn’t even gotten there yet,” Courtney said.

Then it was off to fly reconnaissance missions for the invasion of Sicily. After the invasion of the Italian mainland, he piloted an A-36 Apache from a base near Pompeii.

“Around that Mount Vesuvius is where I had my first dogfight,” Courtney said. “I was scared to death.”

A Luftwaffe Messerschmitt 109 chased him three times around the volcano until Courtney suddenly slowed, allowing the German to scoot under him, at which time he shot down the enemy.

Flying low around Monte Cassino, he drew enemy fire from concealed anti-aircraft positions dug into the mountainside. His bravery resulted in receipt of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

While strafing Ciampino Airport outside Rome, technically an off-limits area — “but that didn’t mean much when they were shooting at you”­ — Courtney was shot down and wounded.

“It took three minutes to fly up there, and eight days to walk back” to Pompeii, he said, adding he hid in vineyards to avoid German patrols.

ON TO THE PACIFIC

Courtney returned to the States, recovered from his wounds, and was sent off to the Pacific Theatre with a newly formed Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter group. It was quite a technological upgrade from the wobbly old 1920s Curtiss Jenny biplane he first flew.

Soon he was behind the throttle of the new P-47N Thunderbolt, a long-range fighter, fighting in battles including Tinian and Truk.

“We tore up the Japanese harbor in Truk and we never lost a single airplane,” Courtney said. “The Japanese were more surprised than we were.”

Next it was on to recently captured Iwo Jima, flying escort duty for B-29 Superfortress bombers bombing the Japanese homeland from newly paved airfields that melted in the hot sun soon after take-off and had to be repaired before they returned.

“That’s the hardest job we ever had, shooting at Kamikazes as they attached the B-29s,” Courtney said.

The most historic escort flight he made was accompanying the bomber carrying one of the atom bombs to Japan.

“Once they started their bomb run, we had to turn back because we didn’t have the special glasses” necessary to avoid eye damage from the brilliant explosion, Courtney said.

Even so, he felt and understood the power that had been unleashed, and knew warfare had changed forever.

“It was horrible,” he said. “Horrible.”

POST-WAR CAREER

After the war, Courtney was stationed in Europe at an airbase near Munich.

By then a major, he flew several supply missions in 1948 to western forces in Berlin after the Soviets blockaded land routes.

Little did Courtney realize he was at the front of the famed Berlin Airlift, which rapidly expanded to include food and fuel for the city’s western civilian population as well.

He later flew during the Korean Conflict after training in new Lockheed F-80 fighter jets.

“I was one of the first combat jet fighters, I guess,” he said modestly. “We were trying to make a combat airplane out of the F-80.”

More test pilot training followed at Muroc Army Air Field, now Edwards Air Force Base, in California, with legendary pilots including Chuck Yeager, whose exploits were chronicled in the book and subsequent film, “The Right Stuff.”

After 26 continuous years of service, Courtney retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1963, though he was reactivated in logistic roles three times.

“We bypassed ‘Nam,” Johnie Courtney Jr. said, explaining that a 36-month tour of duty in Thailand during the Vietnam War would have posed a hardship on his father’s young family of six children.

Johnie Courtney Sr.’s medals and commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, belie his modesty.

“That’s just a series of things that you did,” he said. “It looks better in writing than it really was.”

TOMORROW’S SKYROADS

Up here in these battle torn heights, tracer bullets blaze trails of destruction and planes drop death on those below. For awhile, it has got to be that way.

But still beyond all that, high above today’s troubles, there, untraveled, untouched by man-made wings, waits virgin air, tomorrow’s skyroad, through which planes of the future will flash at speeds as yet untried.

Someday loved ones parted will feel less alone in knowing that reunion is never more than a few short hours away.

I look forward to the time when new and happier faces will circle an earth at peace. A day when all men will be closer, made friendlier by common interests in a new-found world community.

Lt. Johnie Courtney

Italy, Oct. 3, 1943, in a letter to his family home in Baker

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker World War II vet recalls years as Air Force combat pilot

Army Pvt. Jonah R. Williams graduated from OSUT basic combat training and Infantry School on Dec. 12 in Fort Benning, Georgia. 

He received 14 weeks' instruction in drill and ceremony, weapons, rifle marksmanship, chemical warfare, field training, tactical exercises, armed and unarmed combat, physical fitness, first aid, military justice, Army History, traditions, core values, land reconnaissance, map reading and navigation, minefield safety, communication equipment and construction barrier.

Williams graduated in June 2014 from Crestview High School. His parents are Christy Williams and the late Michael B. Hughes of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Williams graduates from basic combat training, Infantry School

Army Pvt. Jonah R. Williams graduated from OSUT basic combat training and Infantry School on Dec. 12 in Fort Benning, Ga. 

He received 14 weeks' instruction in drill and ceremony, weapons, rifle marksmanship, chemical warfare, field training, tactical exercises, armed and unarmed combat, physical fitness, first aid, military justice, Army History, traditions, core values, land reconnaissance, map reading and navigation, minefield safety, communication equipment and construction barrier.

Williams graduated in June 2014 from Crestview High School. His parents are Christy Williams and the late Michael B. Hughes of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Williams graduates from basic combat training, Infantry School

Air Force Reserve Airman 1st Class Xavier R. Green graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Green's parents are Clinton Powell of Itta Bena, Fla., and Stephanie M. Green of Crestview. His grandmother is Ernestine Smith of Millbrook, Ala.

The soldier is a 2014 Crestview High School graduate.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Green completes basic military training

Air Force Airman 1st Class Heath M. Grider graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Grider's parents are Gary and Marilou Grider of Crestview; his sister is Deborah Grider.

The 2006 Crestview Senior High School graduate earned an associate degree in 2010 from Northwest Florida State College, Niceville.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Grider completes basic military training

CRESTVIEW — When Jesica Bullock began seeing her husband, Jared, 11 years ago, "I was excited to be dating a soldier," she said.

Three months after the couple married, Jared deployed for 15 months to Iraq, and her excitement turned to fear.

"But I think that time made me grow up and just appreciate what he was doing and not to worry every day about what we couldn't prevent," the 32-year-old said.

The unpreventable — and unfathomable — happened Nov. 13, 2013, when an IED hit Jared and two teammates on routine patrol. One teammate was killed, another was seriously injured, and Jared lost his right arm above the elbow and right leg above the knee.

"I never thought to myself that this could happen to us," Jesica said. "I didn't think it could ever happen to us."

'CAPABLE OF MORE'

Jared said he and his twin, Kyle, enlisted in the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"I joined the Infantry and was right in the middle of it all," the 30-year-old said. "I knew that I wanted to become Special Forces, because I knew I was capable of more and wanted to make a greater impact."

The Southern Illinois native, who was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), left Fort Bragg, North Carolina and bought a house in Crestview in June 2011 after the 7th Group Compound opened, Jesica said.

But last year's IED injuries required a temporary change of address.

The Bullocks and their 5-year-old son, Aidan, currently live in a San Antonio, Texas apartment while Jared receives physical therapy at the Center for the Intrepid. Jared initially received treatment at San Antonio Military Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston.

STAYING POSITIVE

Despite his amputations and downtime in hospital beds, Jared has stayed just as positive as photos of him wearing an always present smile on his Facebook page show, Jesica said.

And he's stayed active.

Jared "participated in a 10-mile Tough Mudder in West Virginia in September and a Spartan Sprint in Dallas at the end of October," Jesica said. "The pictures that you see on our support page are real. He doesn't ever have a bad day."

Support from friends, family members and 7th Group teammates fuel him, said Jared, whose "Jared Bullock-Support Page" on Facebook displays the hashtag #NeverGiveUp after a lengthy paragraph explaining his ordeal.

"My thing is, I always think that you can either let your injuries define you or you can define yourself," Jared said.

GETTING STRONGER

Occupational and physical therapy have gradually helped Jared regain his stamina, Jesica said.

"In the beginning, he worked on core strength, and learning to stand and balance on one leg due to not having prosthetics," she said. "That then progressed to getting his right leg prosthetic and learning to walk, and then by August he was working on using his new running leg …

"His progression to today has led him to be able to do one armed pushups and one legged squats."

Jared is wrapping up physical therapy, and plans to return to Crestview by mid-January, he said.

If the family didn't have to be in San Antonio, they'd be in Crestview on Sunday, when U.S. Gold Gymnastics and Cheerleading Academy will present a Wounded Warrior Meet, with proceeds benefiting the Bullocks.

SUNDAY BENEFIT

Kathy Dwyer, owner of Crestview's U.S. Gold, lost her brother, Christopher Kiernan, on May 6, 2007. The Army tank commander died after a sniper shot him in the heart during his second mission in Iraq.

So when the academy started having fundraisers, Dwyer wanted to give back to the military.

Sunday's Wounded Warrior Meet will feature 50 gymnasts on the recreational competition and bronze teams. The 5- to 6-year-old athletes will present floor, beam, bar and vault routines, according to office manager Nicolette Buddles.

For some of the gymnasts, it's their first competition, Dwyer said. But they've had plenty of practice; "they start training as soon as they're walking."

The public can attend the meet for a donation to the Bullocks.

The couple said they appreciate the gesture.

"We … absolutely love the support and love that we feel from everyone, and appreciate it more than anyone could imagine," Jesica said.

"It definitely has made this year a lot easier for us as a family."

—

WHAT: Wounded Warrior Meet, a gymnastics competition benefiting Jared Bullock

WHEN: 1-5 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: U.S. Gold Gymnastics and Cheerleading Academy, 2118 3rd Ave., Crestview

—

Thoughts? Email tboni@crestviewbulletin.com or tweet@cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Wounded soldier plans return home to Crestview; benefit scheduled