Show and tell: Children from local boys’ home

  • Published
  • By Michael Fletcher
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  "Wow!" was the most repeated word Saturday as 15 boys from the Westview Boys' Home in Hollis, Okla., crawled in and under KC-135, C-5, and C-17 static displays Dec. 15.

The 97th Services Squadron hosts an annual Christmas party for the home, and this year the boys were able to get an up-close look at aircraft. Aircrew volunteers from the 54th Air Refueling Squadron, 56th Airlift Squadron, 58th AS, Aerial Port, Transportation, and members of the A-TEAM set up and manned the static displays.

"This is the 12th annual Christmas party for the Westview Boys' Home," said Senior Master Sgt. Glenn Zimmerman, Services Squadron superintendent. "Different sections of the Services Squadron sponsored each of the 15 boys. After the flight line orientation, we showered the boys with gifts and let them go absolutely nuts at the Youth Center."

The boys received a full meal followed by a visit from Santa Claus and an elf who gave presents to the youth.

"The Westview Boys' Home is a residential child care facility; a home for boys orphaned, abused or neglected," said John Moore, director of social services for Westview. "The boys live on campus seven days a week with resident house parents and staff. The youngest, a 5-year-old, is here with an older sibling, and we can provide for 30 boys through high school."

Westview Boys' Home is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charitable organization sponsored by the Church of Christ. It has six group homes on 1,500 acres, and the boys have the opportunity to learn ranching and farming skills while caring for the home's livestock, pecan trees and fields. They attend public schools in Hollis.

Our goal is to provide balance, security and structure in their lives, something they may never have had before coming to Westview," Mr. Moore said. "Many of the hundreds of boys who have graduated from Westview since it opened in 1956 have joined the military."

For most of the boys, it was their first time being this close to a military airplane and they had lots of questions for the pilots, boom operators, flight engineers and loadmasters who manned the static displays.

They were impressed that the KC-135 was older than the crews who flew it and that it could refuel other aircraft in midair. They were also impressed by how high the cockpit on the C-5 was and that the C-17 could land on a dirt landing field.

"Maintenance is the key to keeping these aircraft flying," Master Sgt. Francis Antonsen, 54th ARS boom superintendent and unit first sergeant, told them. "Pilots get all the glory but maintenance does all the work," he said with a grin.

A show of hands revealed that all the kids from the 5-year-old through high school wanted to fly. By the end of the orientation tour their image of the U.S. Air Force had broadened to include a lot more job possibilities. The boys saw that an Air Force base has many of the same needs and jobs that a small city requires and what the requirements were for several of the job specialties.