First Chief Master Sgt. of Air Force to speak at POW/MIA ceremony today

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kelly Ogden
  • 16th SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla --  The first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is scheduled to be the guest speaker at the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action ceremony today at the Air Park at 4:16 p.m.

Retired Chief Master Sgt. Paul Airey, who served in the Air Force for 27 years, became a prisoner of war in July 1944.

Chief Airey was on his 28th combat mission flying above oil refineries on the outskirts of Vienna, when his B-24 was hit and he was forced to jump out of the camera hatch, plummeting 18,000 feet by parachute.

After safely landing, a group of local farmers detained him until German soldiers arrived and led him to jail at Stalag Luft IV, a German POW camp.

As allied forces began to enter into Nazi Germany, he and thousands of other prisoners of war were forced to march 400 miles to another camp near Berlin.

He was liberated by British forces in May 1945.
In case of inclement weather the ceremony will be held at Freedom Hangar.

Shuttle buses to and from the ceremony will be provided from the Base Exchange parking lot and the Sound-side beginning at 3:15 p.m.