70th anniversary

[SARDOC]

Happy 70th Birthday Civil Air Patrol.  Semper Vigilians.

[Stonewall]

I posted this in a non-CAP forum today:

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A tidbit of Air Force history, older than the Air Force itself:

In the 7 1/2 years I've been a member of this forum, I have made little mention of my affiliation with Civil Air Patrol (CAP).  Truth is, I've been a member for almost 25 years (joined February 1987), with those first years being a cadet where I earned the Billy Mitchell Award.  As a 14 year old, CAP was the answer to my prayers as I wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps as a military man.  As a graduate of the Naval Academy, Vietnam Veteran and career Navy Officer, I looked up to my dad every time I saw him walk out the door in his uniform.  Unfortunately, a few months after I attended my first CAP meeting, my father was hit and paralyzed by a drunk driver.  He survived and is still alive today, but not without a lot of difficulty.  He has been 100% disabled for almost 25 years.  However, CAP was there for me.  Especially a former Marine helicopter pilot who mentored me through the cadet program and I am still in touch with today.

After graduating high school and enlisting in the Army, I thought my days in CAP were over.  By chance, however, I ran into some CAP cadets at an Air Show at Andrews AFB in 1992 who spiked my interest so I attended a local meeting (Fairfax Composite Squadron) and signed up as a CAP Officer (usually referred to as a Senior Member).  Since then I've been mostly active until the past few years when I had kids of my own and didn't quite have the time to participate.  I've been a CAP squadron commander, commandant at a national activity and have been directly involved with real world ground/air search and rescue missions.  Best of all, however, are the cadets that I helped mentor into becoming successful leaders and mentors themselves.  Air Force PJs, Army Special Forces Officers, West Point Graduates, public school teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other contributors to society.  In fact, I am still best friends with a few of my fellow cadets from 25 years ago.  It's been a great experience and I ask that you offer your assistance to any CAP members (adult or cadet, but especially cadet) that you come across.  Offer them a tour of your unit, aircraft, equipment...they eat that stuff up.

That's my story...  Now here is CAP's story:

In the late 1930s, more than 150,000 volunteers with a love for aviation argued for an organization to put their planes and flying skills to use in defense of their country.  As a result, the Civil Air Patrol was born one week prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Thousands of volunteer members answered America's call to national service and sacrifice by accepting and performing critical wartime missions. Assigned to the War Department under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Corps, the contributions of Civil Air Patrol, including logging more than 500,000 flying hours, sinking two enemy submarines, and saving hundreds of crash victims during World War II, are well documented.

After the war, a thankful nation understood that Civil Air Patrol could continue providing valuable services to both local and national agencies.  On July 1, 1946, President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 incorporating Civil Air Patrol as a benevolent, nonprofit organization.  On May 26, 1948, Congress passed Public Law 557 permanently establishing Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.  Three primary mission areas were set forth at that time: aerospace education, cadet programs, and emergency services. 

From the CAP National Commander, MGen Charles L. Carr, CAP:

Dear CAP Officers and Cadets,

Congratulations to you, the more than 61,000 members of Civil Air Patrol, on the occasion of our 70th anniversary. On this historic day, I am reminded of the sacrifices of the founding members of CAP's Coastal Patrol, who – propelled by duty and love of country – quickly proved their worth during World War II by conducting aerial patrols that discouraged and eventually stopped deadly German U-boat attacks along America's shores.

These members helped save lives and preserve our nation's freedom. Plans are under way to honor these early pioneers. Legislation is pending in both houses of Congress that, once passed, will award a single Congressional Gold Medal to CAP for these members' unusual and extraordinary wartime service.

I encourage each of you to help us secure support for CAP's Congressional Gold Medal legislation. You can do this by contacting your federal legislators, both senators and representatives, and asking them to co-sponsor the pending bills – S. 418 and H.R. 719. This is important because two-thirds of the membership in both houses must sponsor a bill before it can be brought up for a vote. Sample letters and other details, including a list of current co-sponsors, are available online.

Anyone with information on adult CAP members who served the organization during World War II is encouraged to upload their information into the World War II Congressional Gold Medal database on CAP's website. This will help us properly honor them when the time comes.

Congratulations to each of you who continue CAP's legacy of selfless sacrifice and service to country and community. Like those who have gone before us, you make a profound difference. With your help, Civil Air Patrol truly has evolved into a world-class public service organization. Thank you for your contributions to CAP's 70 years of service.

Semper Vigilans!

Sincerely,

Maj. Gen. Charles L. Carr
National Commander

[Mark_Wheeler]

Here is a link to a story AFNORTH did for CAP's 70th anniversary: http://www.1af.acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123281337

and they just added one for CONR: http://www.1af.acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123281843