'Service and sacrifice': Air Force memorial dedicated at Tallahassee National Cemetery

"Why not us?"

Those were the words that inspired a brand new addition to the Tallahassee National Cemetery that arrived just in time for Veterans Day.

After over a year of planning, Colonel H.M. "Bud" West Chapter 419 of the Air and Space Association unveiled a new Air Force memorial, Nov. 2 to honor every member of the force.

The memorial, located near the mausoleum, is the combined work of plenty of men who all wished to honor their brothers and sisters in arms, and honor a very dear friend, Chief Master Sergeant John Schmidt.

David Wilson, a member of the local chapter and a former Air Force member, was the man with the plan and came up with the idea after noting that the cemetery only had memorials for Purple Heart recipients and the Marine Corps.

"Major John Haynes erected the first monument on memorial walk and that was the Purple Heart Monument," said Wilson. "I said, well you know we don't have one for the Air Force so I spoke to Tom and he agreed and so then I spoke with Major Haynes."

Lieutenant Colonel Tom Carney is the president of the local chapter for the Air Force Association. Once he got on board with Wilson's idea they planned a meeting in April 2022 to let chapter members know.

The idea was a go and certain chapter members would fully involve themselves such as Senior Master Sergeant Stephen C. Sullivan, vice president of the chapter, would be the fundraising chairman and Buddy Perryman, a chapter member and former Air Force member, would be the chairman of the design committee.

"We came up with a design and then we modified and modified and we sort of arrived on something but we realized we needed buy in from Major General Michael Snodgrass, Brigadier General Bill Webb and Chief Schmidt," said Wilson.

Perryman and Wilson worked to create some mock-ups to show Snodgrass and Webb, even making some out of cereal boxes. They got their seal of approval, but one that was extra important was Schmidt. Schmidt was unable to attend the original meeting in April after being hospitalized for a health emergency. They would finally meet with him on May 1, 2022, and show him a mock-up to which he approved.

Shockingly, he passed away a week later.

Having gotten all the yesses they needed the chapter would send in the paperwork to the National Cemetery Association in June of 2022. They had reserved a location at the Tallahassee National Cemetery after speaking with Cemetery Director Raymond Miller, and raised over $9,500, Major Haynes being the first to donate.

They settled on FSU's Master Craftsman Studio to build the monument, which they decided to make out of aluminum. Wilson said it was the same material used to make their planes and nearly all of their equipment.

The big unveiling

Finally, last Thursday, they were able to unveil the memorial for a crowd made of friends, family and community members. They gave all attendees a program that was filled with drawings related to the Air Force, some made by Perryman and a history of the branch of service.

There was also a page to explain the Air Force iconography placed on each side of the monument. One side has the Arnold Wings, the logo of the force, another has an interpretation of the Bomb Burst Maneuver, which is a maneuver involving three planes and also a call-back to the design of the United States Air Force Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The program also included a moment of silence for Schmidt, who was laid to rest in the mausoleum, in a spot overlooking the memorial.

After introductions, the moment of silence and the National Anthem came a part of the ceremony in which they placed a rock, flowers and the American flag on the memorial.

"The rock represents the life of many people in the military, the great pressure and stress that they have to endure and their families have to endure. The flowers are beautiful and colorful and represent the future of our country," said Wilson. "The American flag is the most recognizable flag in the world."

They had the oldest person place the rock, General Snodgrass place the flag and the youngest person put the flowers, and it turned out the youngest person was quite the special guest.

"I called for the youngest person there, and I talked to a young lady who was 20 years old so I asked if there was anyone younger than that and someone said that there was a baby here," said Wilson. "The baby turned out to be the great grandson of Chief Schmidt."

Schmidt's granddaughter, Adieren Mayfield, who is the mom of Jackson, his great-grandson, spoke about just how much this memorial meant to her father.

"He wanted to be able to leave things behind that he had his fingers on, his legacy on," said Mayfield.

For the rest of the men involved they wanted to make something that honored all Air Force members and to leave something for the families of those who served.

"We wanted [the monument] to be something that when a family buries an Air Force veteran in the cemetery that they would be proud to go stand by and get a picture of it and with it," said Wilson.

"[The monument] is dedicated to the service and the sacrifice of every man and woman that ever wore the uniform," said Carney. "Doesn't matter if they served one year, if they served 30 years, if they were the lowest ranking airman or if they were a four star general."

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @ari_v_otero

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: New Air Force Memorial rises at Tallahassee National Cemetery