January 2021 Veteran of the Month
January 2021 TVVFW VETERAN OF THE MONTH
Alcide (Al) Leon Porell Born in 1934 in Sanford, Maine, attended K-12 school and graduated from high school in 1952, as salutatorian. Al attended College, joined the United States Air Force ROTC program and ultimately graduated in June 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a second lieutenant commission in the Air Force. After graduating from college, Al was notified by the Air Force that his entry into the active service would be delayed. This gave him an opportunity to continue post graduate work in chemistry at Purdue University. He was able to finish one year of graduate work towards a Master’s degree before the Air Force called him to active duty.
He underwent flight training and received his navigator wings, then assigned as an Electronic Warfare Officer on a B-52 bomber at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. During his tour of duty on the B-52 he was spot promoted to the rank of major and was assigned as a select crew member on an evaluation crew. His most memorable moment as a B-52 crew member was during the Cuban missile crisis when all alert crews rushed to their aircraft and prepared to launch a nuclear strike against Russia. They sat at the end of the runway with all eight engines running ready to launch and waiting for the go-code. After having served five years and flown over 4000 hours as a B-52 crew member, Al got the opportunity to continue his graduate work at The Ohio State University through the Air Force Institute of Technology. He received a Master’s of Science degree in Nuclear Chemistry.
After graduating from The Ohio State University, Al was assigned as a crew member on an EB-66 aircraft and sent to Takhli Air Base, Thailand to fly electronic surveillance and jamming missions on North Vietnamese radar defenses. Although the aircraft was unarmed and carried no offensive armament it was vital to protect the strike forces as they conducted bombing missions over highly defended North Vietnamese targets. While in Vietnam Al flew 105 combat missions, 35 of which were over North Vietnam, logging over 500 hours in the EB-66 aircraft. His most memorable mission occurred when two Mig-15s were launched from the Hanoi airport and were maneuvering to perform an intercept to shoot down his aircraft. Fortunately, the air battle was being monitored by an airborne traffic control aircraft crew whose job was to manage the air battle as it unfolded. They observed the flight path of the Mig-15s and notified our aircraft so we could attempt an escape towards Laos. Simultaneously, two Air Force F-4 fighter airplanes, flying combat air patrol at a higher altitude, were directed to intercept the Migs. The two F-4s shot down one Mig-15 while the other Mig-15 pilot decided that it was time for him to eject and get the heck out of there. So, technically, our aircraft got credit for assisting in shooting down two Mig-15 enemy aircraft.
Returning from his combat tour, Al was assigned to the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, Alabama. There he served as an instructor in the Institute for Professional Development. He taught courses in nuclear weapons effects, electronic warfare as a force multiplier, and conducting war games. He lectured at the Air Force War College, Air Command and Staff College, and the Squadron Officers School. While at Maxwell Air Force Base, Al had the opportunity to conduct extensive research assessing past military strategies utilizing documents stored in the Air Force archives.
Having served four years at the Air University it was time for reassignment. By now Al had achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was ready for a command assignment. The Air Force sent him to Misawa Air Base in Japan as Deputy Commander. The air base had over 8000 American personnel and 3000 Japanese nationals working in maintaining and operating the air base. Contingents from the U.S. Navy, Army, and Marines were tenants on the base as were the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. In addition to his duties as Deputy Base Commander he was the Inspector General of the installation. In this capacity, Al responded to all congressional inquiries initiated by any air base resident, service member families, and off-base issues relating to the status of force agreements.
After having served a three-and-a-half-year tour at Misawa Al returned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the manager of a Management Information System for a major System Program Office whose job was to develop state-of-the-art avionics and electronic warfare systems for all airplanes in the Air Force inventory. His efforts in developing a new and efficient management information system earned him the System Command’s Outstanding Management Officer of the year for his contributions in developing the Information Management System.
During his years on active-duty Al received the Distinguished Flying Cross, six Air Medals, six Air Force Commendation Medals, a National Defense Service Medal, four Vietnam Service Medals, three Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards, two Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Crosses, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Before retiring from the Air Force as Lieutenant Colonel on May 31, 1979, with 23 years of active service, Al took advantage of the GI Bill and obtained a Master’s Degree in Industrial Management.
In June 1981 he was hired by Union Carbide in Oak Ridge, TN as manager responsible for conducting tests of a new Uranium 235 enrichment process using centrifuges. In 1985 congress defunded this project and effectively terminating what had been a long testing effort. Al was reassigned to the environmental remediation program whose mission was to identify, characterize, and remediate government-controlled contaminated sites located throughout the United States. Al worked on contaminated sites on many Department of Defense and Department of Energy facilities. Finally, Al retired from Lockheed-Martin in 1996, thus ending a 15-year career with the company.
Al and his wife have been married for almost 63 years and are now both retired in Tellico village, TN. They have two daughters, Katherine, and Susan, five grandchildren, and one great grandson. In retirement, Al volunteers most of his time to Kiwanis. Al is also a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars where he volunteers on a number of Post projects and fund-raising events. He chaired the Teacher of the Year Award program for the Post.
AWE hospitality has generously donated a $25 gift certificate. Thank you for your service to our country Al!.
Comments
January 2021 Veteran of the Month — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>