Photo By Staff Sgt. Mary Thach | Master Sgt. Mathew Ellison, a boom operator for the 155th Air Refueling Wing, stands...... read more read more
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LINCOLN, Neb. – It all started with an eighth grade school project: what do you want to be when you grow up? A junior high student and Boy Scout decided he wanted to work in aviation and as he grew up he spoke about his idea with his Boy Scout leader, Dick Johnson, a now retired recruiter at the 155th Air Refueling Wing.
Johnson helped him participate in a Boy Scout-sponsored program at the Nebraska Air National Guard base for several years, allowing him to get acquainted with pilots and other service members within the unit. Those experiences helped him decide the NEANG was where he wanted to plant his career.
Throughout the years, he visited the NEANG and developed professional relationships with the flyers and began the enlistment process as soon as he turned 17. And although becoming a pilot was not exactly what he wanted to do after years of observing the unit members, he knew he had to work as close as possible with the aircraft.
Now a part of the NEANG for nearly 21 years, Master Sgt. Mathew Ellison, a boom operator at the 155th Air Refueling Wing, and a native of Lincoln, Neb., enlisted in the NEANG in 1991 as a crew chief for the F-4 Phantom II. He transitioned to a boom operator in 1993 when the unit changed their mission to aerial refueling flying the KC-135R Stratotanker. He’s been a boom operator for 19 years and is one of only 20 boom operators in the NEANG.
His life’s work was recently recognized when Ellison was awarded the Red Erwin Award during a formal ceremony Oct. 13, at the NEANG base in Lincoln, Neb. Ellison received this award from Chief Master Sgt. Steve Pyszka, the career enlisted aviator career field manager from the National Guard Bureau. He was recognized for his dedication to the unit and his career, leadership, flying skills, and even personal aspects of his life. After recently returning from a three-month overseas deployment, Ellison’s devotion to the Air Force remains evident.
The Air Force created the Red Erwin Award, or Henry E. Erwin Outstanding Enlisted Aircrew Member of the Year Award, in 1997 to honor airmen, noncommissioned officers and senior noncommissioned officers annually, in flying career fields.
“Red” Erwin was a radio operator of the aircraft, City of Los Angeles, a B-29 Superfortress, during World War II. Erwin’s duty on his last mission, April 12, 1945, was to drop phosphorus smoke bombs from the aircraft’s bomb chute onto a chemical plant at Koriyama, Japan. After pulling the pin and releasing a bomb into the chute, the bomb malfunctioned and the phosphorus ignited in the aircraft, burning at 1,100-degrees and filling the plane and cockpit with smoke. Erwin, who was blinded and severely burned, felt his way through the aircraft as he tucked the bomb between his bare right arm and rib cage toward the only accessible exit in the aircraft, the co-pilot’s window. He managed to throw the bomb out the window, and then collapsed. His crew extinguished the fire on Erwin’s body and flew him to Guam where he received immediate medical attention. Erwin suffered life-threatening burns, but survived the horrific injuries.
Erwin was awarded the Medal of Honor within hours of the incident to ensure he received the award while he was still alive. But Erwin ultimately survived and was presented many awards following his recovery in honor of his heroism.
The Red Erwin Award gives recognition to airmen who have demonstrated selflessness and dedication to their service, much like Erwin himself displayed. In comparison, Ellison was chosen as the top aviator in the entire Air National Guard beating out more than 3,000 other guard aviators. Ellison said his family told him they were happy someone finally recognized him and his shop for what they’ve always done.
“It’s been a bigger deal to my family that it has to me. I don’t see anything different this year than what I tried to do the other 20 years,” said Ellison. “Things just kind of fell into place this year. It validates not what I have done, but what the whole boom shop, what all 20 of us have done.”
“It’s still kind of surreal the fact that there are 19 other guys who do the same thing I do out here, and then the other 3,000 who are in the Guard,” said Ellison. “I mean, everybody is gone from home for months-on-end and don’t normally get a whole lot of recognition for it.”
Ellison returned from an overseas deployment Oct. 9, and said it’s normal for him to be away from his family at least three months every year.
Fortunately, his labor, and the hard work of the 19 other boom operators in the NEANG is not in vain. The Operations Group has been highly deployable since 1995, according to Ellison.
“The base, as a whole, has no idea how much time the people in this building spend on the road every year. It’s constant,” said Ellison. “We come in and out under the radar and people don’t have any clue that we are gone a third of the year and have been since 1995. It’s always when the big groups of people go and go do something for six months you hear all about it.”
Ellison expressed his gratitude for the recognition and receiving the award. He also spoke of his appreciation of the men and women who put their lives on the line during World War II, much like Erwin.
“My grandfather flew back in World War II,” said Ellison. “He was in the Air Corps. You look at what those guys had to do compared to what we do when we deploy. Those guys were away from home two years at a shot. If they lived through 25 missions, they were lucky. I just got finished flying 21 in 36 days.”
“To listen to what Erwin did, it’s completely different,” added Ellison. “What those guys did is so far above and beyond anything we’ve done or will ever do. It’s hard to even compare yourself to them.”
Ellison said in addition to receiving the Red Erwin Award, he was honored to have his wife coin him with a golden eagle coin.
“I am honored to have received it and honored to represent all the booms, especially the 155th. It showcased to everyone what we do on a daily basis around here.”
| Date Taken: | 10.16.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2013 17:39 |
| Story ID: | 108059 |
| Location: | LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 361 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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