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Building dedication honors fallen Citizen Airman

  • Published
  • By Capt. Caroline Wellman
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Air Force Reserve Command's 445th Airlift Wing honored the life and service of one its former members Oct. 4 when the wing dedicated its new operations building to Maj. LeRoy W. Homer Jr.

Major Homer was part of the wing from 1995 to 2000. He died Sept. 11, 2001, while serving as the first officer on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa.

The emotion-filled day followed more than two and one-half years of planning and approval, said Lt. Col. Chris Clark, 445th Operations Group deputy commander. Colonel Clark spearheaded the approval process and narrated the dedication ceremony.

The ceremony gave attending wing Airmen, local elected officials, and base and community leaders a hint of the major's character and career.

Major Homer provided everyone with a "glimpse of the best of the human spirit," Maj. Gen. Duignan, 4th Air Force commander and former 445th AW commander. The general called Major Homer a "true inspiration" who "never quit on America."

"Dressed in his United Airlines uniform, he led America into battle (Sept. 11, 2001)," General Duignan said.

Col. Stephen Goeman, 445th AW commander, said Major Homer was a real hero and the kind of person a commander wants in his unit. At the same time, Colonel Goeman emphasized that Major Homer's legacy should not be defined only by his actions on Sept. 11, 2001, but also by the years of service the major gave to his country as an Airman.

"We are proud to honor one of our own," Colonel Goeman said.

Before and after the event, people who knew Major Homer readily swapped stories with one another. Everyone agreed that he was a humble hard-worker who always made the person he was talking to feel like the most important person in the world.

Major Homer earned his private pilot's license when he was 16, working 35 hours per week at night to pay for flying lessons. A few years later he received a presidential nomination to West Point, but chose instead to go to the Air Force Academy because he wanted to fly airplanes, not helicopters, said his mother, Ilse Homer.

He loved to fly and he loved his job, Mrs. Homer said of her late husband, indicating he would be honored to have a building named for him but would probably also feel the honor was undeserved.

Mrs. Homer thanked the Wright-Patterson AFB community for recognizing her husband's sacrifice and for providing one more way to ensure that his legacy will not be forgotten. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)