CAP Headline News

WISCONSIN -- Civil Air Patrol Maj. William Wenzel, a veteran of World War II's Battle of the Bulge, has recently published a book about his time as a young U.S. Army infantry medic. Now 86, Wenzel said his sons encouraged to write about his war experiences. The self-published book is entitled "A Time To Remember."

WEST VIRGINIA -- Lt. Col. Dennis D. Barron of Martinsburg has been appointed commander of Civil Air Patrol's West Virginia Wing. He succeeds former wing commander Col. Rod Moore. For more on Barron and Moore, see Maj. Jeffery Schrock's change of command story published in the Martinsburg Journal.

NEW YORK -- Edith Marie Gonder Pernice learned the importance of volunteering while serving as a 15-year-old cadet with the Civil Air Patrol. Sixty-four years later, she maintains that same volunteer spirit, serving such organizations as the Business and Professional Women (BPW) and the American Legion. As a result of her volunteerism, the Business and Professional Women of Delhi, N.Y., are honoring Pernice as their 2009 Woman of the Year.

MASSACHUSETTS -- Cadet Airman Allen Ellis, a recent recipient of CAP's Lifesaving Award, is honored in an article published in the Danvers Herald. Ellis, a resident of Danvers, was credited with using skills he learned at a New Hampshire Wing cadet summer encampment to help save the life of his 3-year-old brother. The youngster was burned while on a family camping trip but Ellis' quick actions helped him to make a full recovery.

NEW JERSEY -- Air Force Capt. Nicholas Gigilio, a fallen fighter pilot with Civil Air Patrol connections, was remembered in a memorial service Sunday in his home state of New Jersey. Gigilio, a husband and father, died in October, when his F-16 collided with another jet during a training mission off the South Carolina coast. Five hundred people, many of them family and friends of the 32-year-old fighter pilot, turned out for his memorial service.

PENNSYLVANIA -- A Civil Air Patrol World War II-era pilot who died last month at the age of 99 -- Ida Mae Hampton Wassell -- turned down a transatlantic flight in 1932, just four months after Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the ocean. Wassell rejected the transatlantic trip because she favored scientific research over "spectacular ocean flights." The flight to Rome, Italy, was unsuccessful, ending in the death of a pilot, a physician and a nurse. All were lost at sea. The doomed flight and Wassell's aviation career are chronicled in a recent article in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

ALABAMA -- Retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs kept Civil Air Patrol's 84 National Staff College students in stitches during a recent visit to Maxwell Air Force Base. The Medal of Honor recipient's address highlighted a full week of activity for the 84 students, who later graduated from CAP's National Staff College.

NEW JERSEY -- Air Force Capt. Nicholas Gigilio, a fallen fighter pilot with Civil Air Patrol connections, was remembered in a memorial service Sunday in his home state of New Jersey. Gigilio, a husband and father, died in October, when his F-16 collided with another jet during a training mission off the South Carolina coast. Five hundred people, many of them family and friends of the 32-year-old fighter pilot, turned out for his memorial service.

Lt. Col. Evelyn Johnson

TENNESSEE -- Legendary Civil Air Patrol aviator Lt. Col. Evelyn Johnson celebrated her 100th birthday earlier this week. Johnson, known as "Mama Bird" to senior members and cadets in CAP's Tennessee Wing, turned 100 on Wednesday, Nov. 4. A pioneer among women aviators, Johnson has been inducted into six hall of fames, including the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Ohio. She was recognized this week, in celebration of her 100th birthday, with a story in her hometown newspaper, the Citizen Tribune of Morristown, Tenn. A video of the celebration can be seen at citizentribune.com. Just click on the second video, "Mama Bird hits 100."

NEW JERSEY -- "Taking Flight," a three-page article in the November-December 2009 issue of Johns Hopkins University's "Imagine" magazine, features one of Civil Air Patrol's 23,000 cadets, Tristan Kooker, of the Cape May County Composite Squadron. Kooker is a cadet fourth class at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

SOUTH CAROLINA -- A Boy Scout/Civil Air Patrol cadet who wants to one day fly with the Marines is now hard at work on the ground, working to restore an old Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star at the Darlington County Airport. Frankie Slemmer says he hopes to give the jet, a 1954-vintage, two-seat trainer, a complete makeover, restoring it to the condition it was in when it flew out of Shaw Air Force Base, in nearby Sumter, S.C. The restoration effort is part of Slemmer's Eagle Scout project.

NEW JERSEY -- A former Civil Air Patrol cadet who became an Air Force fighter pilot will be honored in a "celebration of life" Sunday at the Lacey Township High School auditorium. A township native, Capt. Nicholas Gigilio, 32, died Oct. 15 when his F-16 jet collided with another fighter during a training exercise in South Carolina.

CONNECTICUT -- A story in the Meriden Record-Journal chronicles the life of the late CAP wing commander and Col. Nancy Hopkins Tier, a female aviation pioneer and contemporary of Amelia Earhart. Like Earhart, Tier was one of the first women awarded a pilot's license. She died in 1996 after a 67-year flying career.

ALABAMA -- Kindergarten through fifth-grade students in five Boaz schools learned about aerospace during NASA Week activities sponsored in part by CAP's Aerospace Connections in Education, or ACE. The CAP program focuses on aerospace awareness, character and physical fitness implemented as a precursor to Boaz's school-based CAP cadet program.

WISCONSIN -- Twenty-nine ground team members, an aircrew and five Mission Base staffers from the Civil Air Patrol were involved in the successful search for a missing hiker earlier this month. An article published recently by WiscNews.com chronicles the search for 59-year-old Diana Haley, who lost her way while hiking in the Baxter Hollow Preserve in Sumpter, Wisc. Citizen volunteers from CAP's Wisconsin Wing, despite below-freezing temperatures, helped find the woman alive and helped bring her to safety.

WISCONSIN -- Gov. Jim Doyle has signed legislation protecting the jobs of the state's 1,119 Civil Air Patrol members. Seven hundred twenty-two of Wisconsin Wing's citizen volunteers are senior members, now guaranteed a leave of absence for their participation in CAP missions. 

COLORADO -- A story in the Grand Junction Sentinel briefly chronicles the 40-year-old rescue of a Colorado man. F. Peter Simmons, now 83, recently told members and guests of the local Thunder Mountain Composite Squadron, "CAP saved my life." Simmons was seriously injured when his single-engine plane hit a tree. He was later rescued by the CAP.

COLORADO -- A story in the Grand Junction Sentinel briefly chronicles the 40-year-old rescue of a Colorado man. F. Peter Simmons, now 83, recently told members and guests of the local Thunder Mountain Composite Squadron, "CAP saved my life." Simmons was seriously injured when his single-engine plane hit a tree. He was later rescued by the CAP.

WEST VIRGINIA -- Mercer County Civil Air Patrol volunteers plan to honor American military veterans with a Wreaths Across America observance in Princeton, W.Va, in December. The local CAP squadron is raising money to bring 700 live wreaths to decorate veterans' graves in Resthaven Memorial Park for the holidays.