Civil Air Patrol Wartime Efforts Remembered at Air Force Association Ceremony

SAYVILLE, N.Y., December 25, 2016 – Civil Air Patrol staff members from state-level New York Wing and county-level Long Island Group along with others representing the Merrick-based Lt.Quentin Roosevelt Cadet Squadron and the Farmingdale-based Squadron 207 were on hand for the Air Force Assocation's 75th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor “Dropping of the Roses” ceremony, held on December 7th at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale. In addition to sharing in the honors of the ceremony, cadets and senior members from the Lt. Quentin Roosevelt Cadet Squadron assisted in setting up the venue, greeted veterans with their guests, and controlled the parking area.

While the Air Force Association's Long Island Chapter #202 annually presides over the ceremony that memorializes those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice at the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Association went further with the unveiling of a memorial plaque that also cited Civil Air Patrol’s wartime contributions. Days earlier, CAP was invited to a special unveiling of the plaque by Long Island Air Force Association president Fred Di Fabio with fellow staff members, Cathy Ward and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Stratemeier. Pictured above from left to right are Civil Air Patrol Major Wayne Smith, 1st Lt. Mark Del Orfano, LI AFA Treasurer Stratemeier, CAP Senior Member Ricardo Gomez-Nieto and LI AFA President Di Fabio.

Civil Air Patrol, the longtime all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary, is the newest member of the Air Force’s Total Force, which consists of regular Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, along with Air Force retired military and civilian employees. CAP, in its Total Force role, operates a fleet of 550 aircraft and performs about 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 78 lives annually.

Civil Air Patrol’s 56,000 members nationwide also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Its members additionally play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program.

Performing missions for America for the past 75 years, CAP received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2014 in honor of the heroic efforts of its World War II veterans. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.

Long Island Group Civil Air Patrol is headquartered on the grounds of Long Island MacArthur Airport. For more information, please visit the Group’s website at http://lig.nywg.cap.gov.