'Military brats' reunite, raise money for heroes
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 20, 2014 1:46 PM
esmith@newsargus.com
LAGRANGE -- A group of Eastern Wayne High School graduates who spent part of their youth at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base held their second annual Octoberfest on Saturday night, raising money for the Air Warrior Courage Foundation and the Kitty Askins Hospice Center.
Key Wendell, who organized the event and whose father was in the 4th Fighter Wing's 336th Squadron, said growing up in the military is an experience like none other, and because of that military children form a special bond.
"I was born here in '61 and moved around a lot," Wendell said. "All of our fathers mostly settled in Goldsboro at Seymour Johnson. Since we were always moving around, we were always changing friend groups. But the group here was the 'final group,' so to speak. We all met around ninth grade, when you're meeting who is going to be your lifelong friends."
Wendell first realized that a military childhood was different during his first year of college.
"I was walking across campus and I heard the national anthem so I stopped, because that's what you do on a base," he said. "I looked around and nobody else was stopping. I said, 'Hey guys, why aren't you stopping?' They sort of scoffed at me and it became a joke. But that's when I realized I had grown up very differently. I realized I had formed a forever bond with other military brats -- it can't really be described."
The event honored Lt. Col. Michael Cooper, an airman who was stationed at Seymour Johnson and who died last year. Cooper was a member of the Air Warrior Courage Foundation, and a friend of both Wendell and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Dave Brog, who is the executive director of the foundation.
"If you didn't know him, you missed one hell of a show," said Brog. "He was not only a pilot and war hero, but a super, super individual."
The Air Warrior Courage Foundation was founded over the skies of Vietnam, Brog likes to say, when Bob Pardo pushed a fellow airman's plane out of enemy territory over North Vietnam into Laos so when they crashed they wouldn't be captured by the enemy.
The maneuver would become known as "Pardo's Push."
Pardo's fellow airman later fell ill with a terminal disease, and Pardo started a fund to cover costs incurred that were not covered by the government. The fund evolved into the Air Warrior Courage Foundation.
"We are doing something very valuable for our warriors," Brog said, explaining that the foundation will cover gaps in funding by the government. "We provide funding for things the government can't due to legal reasons. We are trying to give back to the military community and look out for our own."
The foundation will go as far as providing a college savings plan for the children of fallen airmen who either die in combat or in training exercises, Brog said. The first college funds were started in 2003 for the children of Eric Das and Bill Watkins -- airmen stationed at SJAFB.
Brog said 97 percent of all money that comes into the charitable foundation goes back out into programs and funds for airmen.
The name "Oak Forest Warriors" takes some of its meaning from the fact that Eastern Wayne's athletic teams are called the Warriors as well as the fact that service men and women are also deemed warriors.
"Guys, I know we all call ourselves warriors," Wendell said, unveiling a painting of Michael Cooper with his airplane, which was received by his daughter, Caroline Cooper. "But let's not forget who the real warriors are, the ones who fought for our freedom."