Robert Cardenas

-B-24 pilot shot down over Germany in WWII

-Earned AF Distinguished Fling Cross flying F-105s in Vietnam

-Test Pilot; flew B-29 for X-1 flights, chief test pilot for YB-49 Flying Wing

-Attended 1st ACSC class, AFSOC/CC

Brig Gen Rhonda Cornum, USA

-Desert Storm POW after UH-60 Black Hawk shot down on search & rescue mission

-Champion for Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, psychological strengthing and resiliency training

Col (ret.) Hank Fowler, USAF

-F-4 pilot, downed during raid over Hanoi; POW for nearly six years

-A senior staff attorney for the Alabama Supreme Court

Lt JG Leon Frankel, USN

-WWII Avenger pilot who sunk Cruiser Yahagi; 25 combat missions; Navy Cross

-Flew for newly-born country of Israel in 1948 (Messerschmitt 109)

TSgt Robert Gutierrez, USAF

-Combat controller awarded Air Force Cross on Sept. 20, 2011 for continued bravery in action in Afghanistan, despite life-threatening gunshot wound to chest

Gail Halvorsen, USAF

-Pilot during Berlin Airlift known as Berlin Candy Bomber

-Aircraft loading vehicle and Air Force Logistics Readiness award named in his honor

-Recipient of the Cheney Award

James Harvey

-Tuskegee Airman, a WWII veteran who was one of the first African-American men allowed to participate in USAAF flight training and operations.  They went on to be among the best aviators in WWII, recording higher survival rates for the bombers they escorted.  Initially flew P-40s and later flew P-51 with the world famous “Red Tails”.

Gloria Heath

-WWII  WASP

Brig Gen (ret.) Miroslaw Hermaszewski, Polish Air Force

-Cold War cosmonaut; First and only Pole in space

-Flew aboard SOYUZ 30 spacecraft; MiG-21 pilot

Col (ret.) Howard “Scrappy” Johnson, USAAF, USAF

-Flew P-51s in Korea; F-105s in Vietnam; test pilot set altitude record in F-104 (91K)

-Stood up River Rats Valley Association with Robin Olds and Chappie James

Col (Ret.) Jim Kasler, USAF

-WWII/Korea/Vietnam aviator; F-86 Ace; 6.5 years as POW in Hoa Loa

-Only person to ever earn 3 AF Crosses

Maj (ret.) Ed Saylor, USAF

-Engineer of B-25 Crew 15, Doolittle Raiders

-1 of only 5 surviving Doolittle Raiders today

Col (ret.) Leo Thorsness

- Fighter pilot who earned the Medal of Honor

- POW for 6 years in Vietnam