Darald Hammond received a big surprise from his grandson-in-law Master Sergeant Chad Pemble during the Sunday, November 11 service at the Eagle Bend United Methodist Church. Pemble presented Hammond with a flag which had been flown over a mission in Syria. Both men had served in the Air Force.
Carol and Darald Hammond of Eagle Bend with the certificate authenticating the flag. It reads: Operation Inherent Resolve. This certificate is presented to The Hammonds From the 179th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron certifying that on 18 June 2018 this American Flag was flown in support of Operation Inherent Resolve as part of the mission to destroy Daesh; in an F-16CM tail number 91-0222. It was signed by Jason “HAD” Bright, Captain, USAF a pilot in the 179th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.
Darald Hammond received a big surprise from his grandson-in-law Master Sergeant Chad Pemble during the Sunday, November 11 service at the Eagle Bend United Methodist Church. Pemble presented Hammond with a flag which had been flown over a mission in Syria. Both men had served in the Air Force.
Hammond gets surprising honor on Veterans Day
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by Karin L. Nauber
Sunday, November 11 was a busy day at the Darald and Carol Hammond home in rural Eagle Bend. In addition to it being the final day of the regular deer hunting season, a special surprise was also brewing in the background.
Darald, who had served in the United States Air Force from 1956 to 1960, was no stranger to a bit of chaos and a lot of “hurry up and wait.”
While serving his country in-country, Darald worked on carrier planes “and jets when we had them.”
They had C1-19s and C1-23s then. Darald knew his way around the planes having completed his basic training at the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and his schooling for aircraft electrician at Sheppard Air Force Base in Indiana.
As part of his work with the Air Force, he also helped train some of the 82nd Airborne where they dropped troops for training and the heavy equipment they would use.
Darald said that when he had been at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, there was a logo on the “chow hall” wall that said, “Lean and Mean.”
“My sergeant told the base he didn’t want his men ‘lean and mean,’ he wanted them well fed. The sign came down while we were there,” said Darald.
Many years later, the Hammonds granddaughter Holly married Chad Pemble who now serves in the 148th Air National Guard Unit in Duluth. . . .