From COL Ross E. Veta
Dear Fellow California Wing Members,
I apologize for starting the new year with this news but it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that Col George Ishikata, the Pacific Region Commander, passed away unexpectedly on 30 Dec 2021 from natural causes. George was a valuable and much loved member of the CAP family and will be missed. Col Ishikata's death was a shock and completely unexpected. CAP is a family and we have lost a valued member. We mourn together and take comfort from each other's support. We will communicate additional information as it becomes available.
I got the email notice as I was composing an email to him. Shocked is an understatement.
He was an iconic member of CAP when I was a cadet in the 90s. When I came back to CAP after I got out of the military I sought him out at a conference and let him know. That was about 2000. I had some brief interactions with him as a senior member later on, but we lived a couple hundred miles apart. He was one of those announcements that hits you like a ton of bricks, even being someone I havnt seen or spoken to in person for probably 15 years. They were just always there.