State military hall of fame to welcome 15 more members

Cloteen Cowan and her only son, Joe Cowan, will receive an honor today on behalf of their deceased husband and father -- an award that "quiet, reserved, humble" World War II veteran Frank "Kirby" Cowan deserved but never would have basked in, they said.

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Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Military Hall of Fame inductee - Tech Sergeant Frank "Kirby" Cowan

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Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Military Hall of Fame inductee - Major General Ronald Stephen Chastain.

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Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Military Hall of Fame inductee - Master Sergeant Parnell Gene Fisher.

Cowan and 14 other veterans from across the state will be inducted into the Arkansas Military Veterans Hall of Fame during a ceremony at 6 p.m. at Embassy Suites, 11301 Financial Centre Parkway. U.S. Sens. Mark Pryor and John Boozman will present inductees or their families with a medallion.

Since the Hall of Fame was created in 2011, a selection committee has chosen up to 15 veterans each year from a stack of nominations, said director Col. Conrad Reynolds.

"We have some real heroes in this group, as with every group," Reynolds said. "It's just amazing some of the stories we see."

This year's inductees include three World War II veterans: Tech Sgt. Kirby Cowan, an Air Force veteran who survived three prisons and a concentration camp; Command Sgt. Maj. Cleo Lee of Newport, an Army veteran who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam; and Capt. Art Bradley Martin of Greenwood, deceased, who served as a medical officer.

Three inductees left the service and went on to serve in a public capacity. These include: Col. Tom Warner Thomas of Searcy, an Arkansas Army National Guard veteran who fought in Vietnam and now serves on the Arkansas Veterans Commission; Lt. Col. Robert Martin Schoenborn Jr. of Jonesboro, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam and currently is chairman of the Arkansas Veterans Commission; and Lt. Col. Danny Arlen Stedman of Sherwood, an Air Force pilot during Vietnam who went on to serve on the Sherwood City Council and was elected mayor in 2006.

Eight more inductees served in Vietnam: Sgt. Maj. Robert Gene Barshears of Harrisburg, an Air Force veteran who served two combat tours; Master Sgt. Parnell Gene Fisher of Jacksonville, an Air Force veteran who earned the Silver Star Medal for his service; Maj. John Barrett Floyd of North Little Rock, a deceased veteran who piloted a C-130; Lt. Col. John Frederick Hay of Texarkana, an Air Force veteran who earned nine medals for his service; Staff Sgt. Danny Lee Jacks of Rison, who was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame in 2005; Sgt. Maj. Richard Junior Nail of Lafferty, who was part of the Army Special Forces during his three tours; Col. Robert Allen Phillips of Hot Springs Village, a deceased Air Force veteran who earned more than 20 medals and other commendations for his service in Korea and Vietnam; and Lt. Col. David Ray Wallace of Leachville, who piloted a Cobra helicopter and earned more than 20 medals and other commendations.

The inductee who served most recently is Maj. Gen. Ronald Stephen Chastain of Conway, who commanded the Arkansas Army National Guard's 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Job was to survive

"Dad would've said, 'Ah, forget about it,'" Joe Cowan said of the induction. "He was very reluctant to bring attention to himself. He said everybody had a story, and everybody's story was significant. He never felt special about any of this. But we want to give him all the credit that he deserves."

Joe Cowan, who lives in Little Rock, never knew much about of his father's time during World War II until he was grown; Kirby Cowan, a Harrison native, finally began sharing his story.

In recent years -- and especially after Kirby Cowan died in 2009 at age 87 -- more details have surfaced about the tech sergeant's three tumultuous years in the U.S. Air Force's 339th Bomb Squadron, the last of which he spent hiding out in France, getting captured and being carted among German prisons.

Cowan and 167 other Allied airmen were imprisoned at Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, for about two months, Joe Cowan said.

Their story was made into a documentary titled the Lost Airmen of Buchenwald in 2011. The tale of Cowan's descent into Paris after his B-17 went down June 22, 1944, was part of another documentary film that premiered at the Hot Springs Film Festival last year. The Storyteller centers on Rene Psoralis, now 78 and living in Scotland, who was 7 when he saw Cowan's plane go down.

Cowan, 22 at the time, was aided by the French Resistance and placed in a safe house, but a double agent gave up Cowan and others to German authorities, who thought they were spies. After almost a year spent in prison camps and Buchenwald, Cowan was liberated by Gen. George Patton and returned home to Harrison in spring 1945.

"He came back, and we lived 65 years together," Cloteen Cowan said.

The World War II veteran told his son that his job overseas -- getting out alive -- was an easy one.

"He said he simply survived," Joe Cowan said. "Dad never had to look anybody in the face and shoot a gun at him."

39th brigade recognition

Ron Chastain, 64, is the only inductee who served in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Paris native joined the Army Reserve in 1972 and held various positions with the Reserve and Arkansas Army National Guard -- including a stint as the state's adjutant general -- until he retired in 2010.

Chastain commanded the Guard's 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team for five years and led the unit when it served under the 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad from 2004-05. He was the first Arkansas general to command an Arkansas unit in combat since the Civil War.

The 39th faced almost constant combat that year, Chastain said, and 33 soldiers died.

"We were there to try to rebuild infrastructure within our area to help the new Iraqi government get established and conduct combat operations only when necessary," he said. "Unfortunately, it was necessary almost every day."

Chastain said commanding the 39th was the proudest role he held during his nearly four decades in the military.

"I grew up in that brigade," Chastain said. "To me, this honor is a big deal because it's recognition of the 39th brigade and the contribution that our soldiers have made."

Holding close to Air Force

Parnell Fisher only recently retired from his last job at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, a community he's never really let go of, he said.

On Jan. 22 -- his 81st birthday -- Fisher left the base's Auto Hobby Shop, where he worked rotating tires and changing oil for military personnel for 15 years.

The Vietnam veteran was in the Air Force for a total of 22 years -- from 1950-54, then again from 1959-77.

Fisher grew up in Benton and was bused to an all-black school in Little Rock from sixth through 11th grade, something he said "was not easy." He dropped out of high school and joined the Air Force at age 17 to "take some strain" off his parents, who had two daughters and another son.

Between 1954 and 1959, Fisher left the service to earn a GED and bachelor's degree. When he joined up again, he was sent to Vietnam, where he earned the Silver Star for his actions Dec. 18, 1966, over Vung Tau.

Fisher, a load master in an AC-17, was launching 22-pound flares out of the plane to light the skies for pilots, who were aiming at targets on the ground. One of the flares ejected into the plane, and with no lights on to see by, Fisher found the flare and tossed it out of the cargo door.

The flare's parachute deployed and stuck onto the door. Hanging out of the plane in "more equipment than Schwarzenegger had in that Predator movie," Fisher took out his knife and cut the 12 cords holding the flare to the plane. Seconds after it was cut loose, the flare exploded.

"To me at that time, it was ... not routine, but something that I did without a whole lot of thinking," Fisher said. "I had to do it. I needed to get it done."

Fisher's family -- including his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren -- will see him inducted into the Hall of Fame today.

"It's been an interesting journey for me, if you look at where I came from and where I've wound up," Fisher said. "This is just starting to sink in."

Metro on 11/01/2014

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