INTRODUCTION OF COL. DAVID D. COLEMAN, JR.

BY EMMITT F. YEARY

VETERANS DAY • NOVEMBER 11, 2004

VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK • ABINGDON, VA

IT IS MY GREAT HONOR TO INTRODUCE AND RECOGNIZE DAVID COLEMAN WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO RAISE THE FIRST POW/MIA FLAG TO BE FLOWN OVER VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK.

IN 1943, DAVID D. COLEMAN, JR. HAD JUST TURNED 20 YEARS OF AGE AND HAD JUST COMPLETED THE U.S. ARMY’S BASIC TRAINING COURSE, WHEN HE WAS CHOSEN TO ENTER THE OFFICER CADET PROGRAM OF THE ARMY AIR-CORPS TO TRAIN TO BE AN AVIATION NAVIGATOR.

UPON GRADUATION FROM NAVIGATOR’S SCHOOL, THIS YOUNG MAN WAS COMMISSIONED A SECOND LIEUTENANT AND ASSIGNED TO THE 24^TH BOMBER SQUADRON, THEN PRIMARILY FLYING COMBAT MISSIONS OUT OF ITALY INTO GERMANY.

LT. COLEMAN ARRIVED IN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE OF A COLD, DAMP WINTER IN DECEMBER OF 1944. HIS FIRST TASK WAS TO SET UP HIS TENT FOR HIS LIVING QUARTERS FOR HIS BASIC SURVIVAL. THE VERY NEXT DAY AFTER HE HAD GOTTEN HIS TENT SQUARED AWAY, HE GOT ABOARD A B-24 BOMBER TO FLY HIS FIRST COMBAT BOMBING RUN INTO NAZI GERMANY.

WHEN IN ITALY LESS THAN TWO WEEKS, HE AND NINE FELLOW CREW MEMBERS WERE ON BOARD THEIR PLANE ON HIS THIRD BOMBING MISSION IN ROUTE TO DESTROY AN OIL REFINERY, WHICH WAS CRUCIAL TO THE NAZI WAR MACHINE IN BELCHAMER, GERMANY. THE DAY WAS DECEMBER 16^TH, THE FIRST DAY OF THE BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE.

LT. COLEMAN AND HIS CREW HAD FLOWN ACROSS THE HIGH ITALIAN ALPS AND WERE ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO THEIR TARGET, WHEN THEIR AIRSHIP WAS ATTACKED BY GERMAN FIGHTER PLANES AND A HEAVY BARRAGE OF ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY THEIR PLANE WAS HIT, SUSTAINING MUCH DAMAGE, INCLUDING THE LOSS OF A CRUCIAL ENGINE. THE PLANE BEGAN TO IMMEDIATELY LOOSE ALTITUDE AND THEY WERE FORCED TO DROP OUT OF THE PROTECTIVE FORMATION TO TRY TO MAKE IT BACK TO THEIR BASE AS BEST THEY COULD ON THEIR OWN. AS THEY AGAIN APPROACHED THE HIGH ALPS, THEIR PLANE CONTINUED TO LOOSE ALTITUDE EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD DROPPED THEIR BOMB LOAD IN ORDER TO LIGHTEN THEIR SHIP. AS THE HIGH MOUNTAINS CAME CLOSER IT BECAME PITIFULLY OBVIOUS THAT THEY WOULD NEVER BE HIGH ENOUGH TO GET BACK ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND GET BACK INTO FRIENDLY TERRITORY. WITH NO OTHER CHOICE THEY WERE FORCED TO ABANDON SHIP AND BAIL OUT INTO THE COLD AND FREEZING SNOW COVERED AUSTRIAN COUNTRYSIDE THEN BEING OCCUPIED BY THE NAZI ARMY. WHEN LT. COLEMAN AND HIS FELLOW CREW MEMBERS EXITED THEIR DOOMED CRAFT AND PARACHUTED OUT, THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT SHELLS CONTINUED TO BURST ALL AROUND THEM AS THEY FLOATED DOWN TO THE AWAITING HEAVILY ARMED ENEMY SOLDIERS.

MIRACULOUSLY, ALL TEN CREW MEMBERS SURVIVED THE JUMP BUT NOT ALL RETURNED HOME.

AFTER EXTENSIVE INTEROGATION, LT. COLMAN WAS TAKEN TO A PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, STALOG #1, NORTH OF BERLIN NEAR THE BALTIC SEA. THERE HE AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER POW’S ENDURED THE FREEZING WEATHER AND STARVATION-LIKE CONDITIONS UNTIL THEY WERE LIBERATED BY FRIENDLY RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ON MOTHER’S DAY, MAY 13, 1945.

IN THE MONTHS THAT HE WAS A POW, IT WAS THE RED CROSS PACKAGES THAT SOMETIMES GOT THROUGH AND HIS FAITH IN GOD THAT SUSTAINED HIM AND ENABLED HIM TO SURVIVE.

AFTER RETURNING HOME TO THE GOOD OLE U.S.A., AND AFTER SURVIVING MANY HARRING EXPERIENCES, HE CONTINUED TO MAINTAIN GREAT LOVE OF COUNTRY AND A SENSE OF HONOR AND DUTY AND CONTINUED TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE FOR MANY YEARS THEREAFTER. WHEN THE KOREAN WAR BROKE OUT, HE WAS THERE ANSWERING THE CALL, ONCE AGAIN FLYING DANGEROUS COMBAT MISSIONS FOR HIS COUNTRY. AFTER HAVING FLOWN THOUSANDS OF HOURS AS A NAVIGATOR, LT. COLEMAN ENTERED THE AIR FORCE PILOT TRAINING PROGRAM WHERE HE WAS AWARDED HIS PILOT WINGS. AS A PILOT HE CONTINUED FLYING HUNDREDS OF HOURS IN SUPPORT OF HIS FELLOW SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN.

WHEN THE VIETNAM WAR BROKE OUT, NOW COL. COLEMAN AGAIN STEPPED FORWARD AND ANSWERED THE CALL TO DUTY. IN VIETNAM HE SERVED HIS COUNTRY HONORABLY AND WITH UNABIDINGLY COURAGE, ALLEGIENCE AND LOYATLY TO HIS FLAG AND COMRADES.

IN 1978 AFTER NEARLY FIVE THOUSAND HOURS OF FLYING TIME AND OVER TWO DECADES OF DEDICATION AND LOYALTY AND DEVOTION TO DUTY TO HIS COUNTRY, COL. COLEMAN RETIRED AND MADE HIS HOME IN ABINGDON, WITHOUT SEEKING OR ASKING FOR ANY RECOGNITION OR FANFARE FOR HIS HEROIC EFFORTS AND SACRIFICES FOR HIS FELLOW AMERICANS. HE WAS THE TYPICAL AMERICAN VETERAN QUIETLY FADING INTO THE SCENE OF EVERYDAY LIVING AT HOME.

UNTIL TODAY, NOW OVER 50 YEARS AFTER LT. COLEMAN LANQUISHED IN THAT COLD AND DAMP PRISON OF WAR CAMP IN NAZI GERMANY, VERY FEW OF HIS FELLOW CITIZENS KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THE HEROICS OF THIS QUIET, GENTLE UNASSUMING AMERICAN HERO.

WHEN HE CAME TO ABINGDON, HE AND OTHER POW’S FORMED A GROUP OF A SILENT BAND OF BROTHERS, WHO QUIETLY NOURISHED EACH OTHERS PATRIOTIC SOULS BY JUST KNOWING THE OTHER WAS STILL THERE. IN 1978 THERE WERE 78 OF THEM . . . TODAY ONLY 5 REMAIN.

IN HAVING THE PLEASURE OF TALKING WITH COL. COLEMAN YESTERDAY, I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY HIS DEPARTING REMARKS, AS TEARS WELLED UP IN HIS EYES AS HE REFLECTED ON THE TIMES HE AND HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS HAD SERVED OUR COUNTRY. AS HE HUMBLY, BEAUTIFULLY AND PROFOUNDLY DECLINED ANY PRAISE TO HIMSELF HE STATED: “THERE WERE SO MANY, MANY MORE WHO SUFFERED MUCH MORE THAN I. I SURVIVED BECAUSE I HAD THE BENEFIT OF THE GREAT PROTECTOR.”

THE STORY OF COL. COLEMAN TYPIFIES AND EXEMPLIFIES THE CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR AMERICAN SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES WHO HAVE SERVED AND CONTINUE TO SERVE THIS GREAT AND WONDERFUL COUNTRY. THE AMERICAN SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN ARE MEN AND WOMEN WHO NEVER ASKED TO BE RECOGNIZED, BUT ONLY THAT RIGHTFUL RECOGNITION GO TO OTHERS; MEN AND WOMEN WHO NEVER ASK TO BE HONORED BUT ONLY THAT OTHERS BE GIVEN HONOR; MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE GIVEN AND CONTINUE TO GIVE MORE THAN THEY RECEIVE; MEN AND WOMEN WHO ALWAYS THINK OF OTHERS MORE THAN THEMSELVES; MEN AND WOMEN WHO ASK FOR LITTLE BUT GIVE THEIR LIVES, HOPES AND DREAMS FOR THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM.

THIS IS JUST SOME OF THE PROFILE OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER, SAILOR, AIRMAN, MARINE, AND COASTGUARDMAN AND IS ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED AND CONTINUE TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY.

COL. COLEMAN . . . WE THANK YOU ALL, AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU . . . AND MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!