Choctaw Nation Flight Operations pilots Quentin McLarry, Al Cherry and John Wesley pose with the VAC Appreciation Award at the Choctaw Nation hangar at Eaker Field in Durant. (Photo by ZACH MAXWELL)
Flights help wounded veterans; Choctaw pilots happy to serve
by Zach Maxwell
Choctaw Nation
Durant, Okla.– The eagle has landed in the Choctaw Nation.
Veterans Airlift Command, which links wounded servicemen and women with private air transportation, has honored the Choctaw Nation with an appreciation award. The actual award is a glass-carved eagle taking flight, symbolizing the flights provided by hundreds of entities for wounded veterans.
Choctaw Nation ranks third out of that list of air service providers. Choctaw Nation Flight Operations pilots Al Cherry, Quentin McLarry and John Wesley are a big part of the tribe’s service to veterans across the U.S.A.
“I’m just so proud of our pilots for what they are doing for our veterans, helping and assisting those who serve God and country,” said Chief Gary Batton. “It’s just one more way the Choctaw Nation is able to give back to our veterans, who served so that we can have our freedom. I am so proud for our pilots to lead this.”
So far in 2014, Choctaw Nation has flown 15 missions, serving 22 veterans and 19 support people such as spouses and caregivers.
“It’s a very emotional thing for us, but with a lot of satisfaction,” Cherry said, himself a military veteran. “These people not only served their country, they all have traumatic injuries which they will carry the rest of their lives. It’s a small thing we can do for those who sacrificed so much.”
The award was one of a handful presented in appreciation to volunteer organizations such as Choctaw Nation, It was given by VAC in Nashville on Nov. 14.
Choctaw Nation pilots average around one VAC flight per month, ferrying wounded veterans to a variety of “humanitarian and compassionate” destinations such as medical rehabilitation, weddings and reunions.
Amputees face unimaginable challenges when flying commercially, due to new travel restrictions meant to prevent the very terror which many wounded veterans fought against. One military wife, speaking for her husband, said this about the VAC program:
“I cannot say enough good things about the Veterans Airlift Command and their pilots. They aren’t giving up their time because they have to, they want to. These pilots want to be there and that is a selfless act.”
Cherry said one group was recently taken from San Antonio to their base in Tennessee to welcome their unit home after a lengthy tour of duty. He said the pilots also take groups to the annual Bataan Death March memorial walk, a 26.2-mile trek over the desert in White Sands, N.M., honoring US prisoners of war from World War II.
The focus of the flights is on veterans injured in post-9/11 combat theaters such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Choctaw Nation has been involved in the flights for four years at no cost to the veterans or their families.
For more information about the VAC, visit veteransairlift.org.