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Home Historical Marker Map & Location Honoring: Pitsenbarger - Pleiman - Locker - McDaniel - Photographs Project History Committee |
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| Located in the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant, Western Ohio |
| The Official Website of the USAF Pararescue Memorial Parkway |
| Early Life/Childhood. Wayne Lewis Fisk was born in Waldport, Oregon, on 6 April 1945 to a US Forest Service father and a housewife mother. He was raised in the mountainous Coast Range until his family moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, in 1960. There he attended Ketchikan High School, was a member of the Honor Society, and a cadet captain in the Alaska Civil Air Patrol. He graduated high school in 1963 and entered the local employment force until he joined the US Air Force.
Military Service. A. In March 1966, Wayne Fisk enlisted in the Air Force and was immediately accepted for training and qualification in the elite Pararescue career field. Upon completion of one and a half years of rigorous training consisting of such courses as Army airborne operations, Navy SEAL underwater operations, Army Ranger mountain operations, and Air Force combat rescue aircrew operations, he was assigned to Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, flying aboard the famed Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter. He staged combat search and rescue (CSAR) missions from classified CIA sites in Laos into North Vietnam, rescuing downed pilots, extracting behind-the-line covert teams, and recovering aerospace reconnaissance equipment. One year later, he was reassigned to Kindley Air Base, Bermuda, where he was a world-wide recovery member of NASA Apollo missions 8, 9, and 10. B. In eleven months, he was back in Southeast Asia at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, flying CSAR mission in South Vietnam and Laos. He then volunteered for two more consecutive tours of combat duty with his former unit at Udorn. During this time, he was selected for and participated in the famed Son Tay POW camp raid near Hanoi in November 1970, receiving his first Silver Star. C. In March 1972, he was assigned to the USAF Pararescue School at Hill AFB, Utah, as a training instructor. He served in this capacity until October 1974 when, as the training wing’s outstanding enlisted training instructor, he again returned to his former combat unit in Thailand, participating in the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. When the steamship Mayaguez was high-jacked on the high seas by Cambodian communist forces in May 1975, he was a member of the assault force which successfully recovered the ship and rescued the crew and entrapped Marines. He received his second Silver Star during this action. Being the last combatant to disengage from enemy contact in that battle, he became the last American serviceman to tactically oppose and engage communist forces in the decade-long war in Southeast Asia. D. By January 1976, he was stationed at Clark Air Base, Republic of the Philippines, holding key operational and leadership positions. He participated in a number of major civilian rescue operations and was personally cited by the President of the Philippines and the Philippines Air Force Chief of Staff. In October 1979, he was directed to assume duty at Headquarters, Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service, Scott AFB, Illinois, as Pararescue Standardization and Evaluation Flight Examiner for Pararescue forces world-wide. He retired from Pararescue duty in May 1983 when parachute injuries prohibited further tactical airborne and flight operations. In his 17-year career as a Pararescueman, he had held such team and squadron positions as combat air crewmember, Apollo Space Program recovery team member, flight instructor, ground training instructor, academic instructor, flight examiner, team chief, and acting First Sergeant. E. Upon retirement from Pararescue duty in September 1983, he applied for duty as an Academic Instructor at the USAF Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy (SNOCA), Gunter AFS, Alabama. He completed the USAF Academic Instructor School at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, in February 1984. He was promoted to the rank of Chief Master Sergeant in 1985. F. While in his academic capacity at the SNCOA, he conceived, designed, developed, and supervised the USAF Enlisted Heritage Hall, the first facility totally dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of enlisted contributions to the development of air power. He was director of that institution until his transfer to the Defense Intelligence Agency in March 1989. After successful completion of numerous agency schools, he assumed executive officer duties at the US Embassy, Ottawa, Canada, as Operations Coordinator to the Defense Attaché. He culminated a 27-year military career in August 1993 through retirement. Awards/Decorations/Honors. A. Military: Silver Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC); Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit; Distinguished Flying Cross with one OLC; Meritorious Service Medal with one OLC; Air Medal with 17 OLCs; 70 others; Master Parachutist Badge; Chief Aircrew Badge; Underwater Swimmer Badge; Military Airlift Command Outstanding Senior NCO, 1979; USAF Senior NCO Academy Distinguished Graduate, 1983; namesake, Fisk Park, Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex, AL, 2004; and the first enlisted honoree, US Air Force Air University's Air Command and Staff College "Gathering of Eagles", 2005. B. Civilian: Recipient, US Jaycee’s Ten Outstanding Young Men of America award, 1979 (First USAF enlisted; second DoD enlisted since program’s inception, 1938); Air Force Association Citation of Honor, 1979; Outstanding Airman in the Philippines (Republic of the Philippines Presidential Award), 1979; Air Force Association Annual Convention Keynote Speaker, 1980; numerous other citations. Education. Wayne Fisk holds an Associate Degree through the Community College of the Air Force and Undergraduate (with High Honors) and Graduates Degrees in Justice and Public Safety, Auburn University, Alabama. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Present. Wayne Fisk is married to the former Angelina Arceo from the Republic of the Philippines and resides in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire. Their two daughters became members of the US Air Force in January 2000. He is president of Green Feet Enterprises, a privately-owned company that specializes in tactical medicine and mountain operations for specific DoD services and USG entities. He is an aerospace firm consultant and a frequent writer for the United States Special Operations Command's Journal of Special Operations Medicine. |
| Keynote Speaker CMSgt Wayne Fisk, Retired |
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