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Medal Of Honor Recipients Visit
Airmen, Wounded Warriors In Germany
(October 31, 2009) |
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| KAISERSLAUTERN MILITARY COMMUNITY, Germany (10/27/2009 -
AFNS) -- Two Medal of Honor recipients visited wounded
warriors and Airmen here Oct. 23 as part of an Armed Forces
Entertainment tour.
Retired Army Col. Robert Howard and Command Sgt. Maj. Gary
Littrell, who both received the nation's highest military
decoration for actions during the Vietnam conflict, were
invited to join the tour to share their knowledge of
military service with overseas servicemembers. |
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| Retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Gary Littrell, a Medal of Honor recipient, swaps stories with members of the current Kisling Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Kapaun Air Station, Germany, Oct. 23, 2009. Sergeant Major Littrell spoke to the class about being a responsible leader during a question and answer forum at the academy. |
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"We are pleased to have the opportunity to share our experiences and say thank
you to servicemembers," Colonel Howard said. "We are both retired military and
devoted over half our lives to serving our great country, so we just want to
share those experiences with our fellow servicemembers."
For Sergeant Major Littrell, the visit allowed him to accomplish two goals.
"One is just to say thank you," he said. "The second is to boost morale. If I
could boost one servicemember's morale and convey to them my sincere thanks for
their service, then I've accomplished my mission."
The Medal of Honor recipients first stop was at the Kisling Noncommissioned
Officer Academy on Kapaun Air Station. Here they shared stories with the current
class and faculty and discussed leadership and responsibility.
"As an NCO, you have the sincere responsibility of leadership and should take
that leadership seriously," Sergeant Major Littrell said. "If you're a leader,
you have the health, welfare, comfort and training of your subordinates, and you
need to make sure you do your job properly."
Colonel Howard also talked about the importance of leadership and spent time
speaking about commitment to service and loyalty and trust in fellow
servicemembers.
The two men then visited wounded warriors at the 86th Contingency Aeromedical
Staging Facility on Ramstein Air Base, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and its
United Service Organization Wounded Warrior Center.
"With the wounded warriors, it's really more about saying 'thank you for your
service, thank you for your sacrifice and thank you for your commitment. We
appreciate your keeping us free,'" Sergeant Major Littrell said.
Though the two men have visited many servicemembers around the world, both agree
it's still an important and gratifying thing to do.
"Colonel Howard and I visit troops quite often, as we've made numerous trips to
Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa," Sergeant Major Littrell said. "As retired
military, it's always good for us to visit the active duty. And, it's good for
the young men and women to see that us old men still have a sense of humor,
laugh and have a good time."
For more information on these two Medal of Honor recipients, as well as others,
visit the Medal of Honor Web. | |
Article and photo by Sr. Airman Amanda Dick
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Copyright 2009
Reprinted from
Air Force News Service
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