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Community, McConnell honor veterans

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Laura L. Valentine
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
One hundred and ninety-five Derby, Kan. area veterans were honored at the opening of the new Derby Area Veterans Memorial - Walk of Freedom, which was officially dedicated Nov. 11.
With less than 10 miles separating McConnell Air Force Base from Derby, there are strong military ties for many people in the community. There are more than 12,000 total personnel attached to McConnell, including the several thousand veterans in the immediate area.

Approximately 600 community members and veterans were in attendance for the ceremony.

Among those honored was Col. Merlyn H. Dethlefsen, who was stationed at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., from 1965 to 1967 as an F-105 instructor pilot and served with distinction until his retirement in 1977.

On March 10, 1967, during his 78th combat mission, then-Capt. Merlyn H. Dethlefsen refused to fly his badly damaged F-105 Thunderchief back to Takhli Air Base in Thailand. Instead, he stayed in the skies above the steel works at Thai Nguyen and completely destroyed the site before returning home.

"I broke to the right, down through the flak," Dethlefsen told Airman Magazine in 1969. "I figured that would give me the best chance of evading both the heat-seeking missiles and the MiG's guns. Didn't think the MiGs would want to follow me through that stuff. They didn't."

His courage in the face of a maelstrom of enemy fire made him the third Airman to receive a Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

Planning for the memorial began in 2005 with Derby resident Debra Morris Nelson. Nelson's idea was a result of a personal cross-country drive where she noticed many small towns had memorials.

"The beauty of the park and the memorial area are perfect for a town which is patriotic nearly every day of the year," Nelson told a Derby Informer reporter.

"It feels good," said Joey Fithian, Derby resident and United States Marine Corps veteran who served two tours in Iraq. "For my generation, and the older generations of Vietnam and Korean War veterans, to get the recognition for what we've done for our country, and the sacrifices we've made."

Col. Thomas Riney, 22nd Operations Group commander, was the key speaker for the dedication. Riney told "A Veteran's Story," about Dethlefsen's heroic actions and lifetime of service.

"It's not just Veterans Day, but throughout the year, that [veterans] are stopped and recognized in our community," said Tom Huxtable, Wichita, Kan., resident and United States Marine Corps veteran serving from 1957 to 1960. "It means a lot to have this."