Air Commando's son reconnects with father at Hurlburt Air Park

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Stacy Fowler
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  -- The son of an Air Commando who flew over Normandy in World War II reconnected with the memories of his father at the Air Park on Hurlburt Field, Fla., Dec. 28.

"My father is a hero," said Kim Carmean, son of then-U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Cletis C. Carmean, World War II veteran and Air Commando. "I hoped to visit the very plane my father flew over Normandy in WWII as a crew chief. I wanted to see and touch this plane during the Christmas holidays, and asked Hurlburt Field if I could come to see the aircraft."

Sergeant Carmean was a crew chief for Number 25, a C-47 Sky Train, that flew over Normandy in WWII which is now located in the Hurlburt Field Airpark. With assistance from the Air Force Special Operations Command History Office, Mr. Carmean and his wife Kay were able come down from his home in Virginia to tour his father's plane and tell his father's story.

"I was so happy that Kim was able to come here," said Mrs. Carmean. "He was able to reconnect with his father, and also let people know more about the man who flew in these great aircraft during one of the proudest moments in our family history. Seeing Kim touch his father's plane just brought tears to my eyes, because he loves his father so much and is so proud of what Cletis did in WWII. I still can't believe Kim was able to find this plane!"

Mr. Carmean did not know of the aircraft's existence until he found out about it through his father's friend, fellow Air Commando, Mike Ingrisano, who served as Sergeant Carmean's radio operator in WWII. As Carmean toured the aircraft at Hurlburt, tears formed in his eyes as he remembered the man who was his hero.

"I have a book that was put together detailing my father's training and tour of duty, very similar to a year book in high school, only this was for a longer period of time," said Carmean. "One day my wife and I were at a restaurant enjoying a ball game and I remember saying that I should 'Google' my father's troop, the 316th Troop Carrier Group, and see what happens. I did that same afternoon and a book called Valor Without Arms came up, written by Michael Ingrisano. After going through a few pages of the book online I saw my father's name."

"I immediately ordered the book and started an email communication with Mike and his wonderful wife Nancy," he said. "It was in these correspondences that Mike told me that their plane was in Florida. There is no doubt in my mind that some divine intervention drove me to check on my father's troop and speaking from that point with Mike and Nancy. And even though Mike and my father are no longer with us on Earth, I can feel them with me as I look at a piece of history - and I know that they are as proud of me as I am of them."

Sergeant Carmean died Feb. 11, 2005, and Ingrisano passed on Feb. 11, 2011 - six years to the day after Sergeant Carmean's death.

"I wish my father and Mike could be here to see me with their plane - they would tell you even more stories than I could, and we would be out here for hours," said Carmean. "But being here, and being able to just reach out and touch something that was a major part of my father's life and reconnect with my biggest hero - that is one of the most precious gifts I have ever received in my entire life, and I will never, ever forget it."