This Week in SigEp Patriot History, 22 – 28 JUL

Brothers,

 

Sixty years ago yesterday, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed insuring a cessation of hostilities ending the Korean War. Almost 1.8 million Americans served during the Korean War. How many SigEp Patriots served? The SigEp Patriots Project (SPP) has information showing that at least 68 Brothers served in the Korea War, but we believe we are missing many names. If you are or know of a Brother who served in Korea, we hope you will pass him our way.

22 JUL 1940

CA Alpha Brother William E. Turpen began his service with the U.S. Army on this date.

23 JUL 1943

On this date, World War II Veteran and IL Alpha Brother Corporal Willard Harold Lindeman, U.S. Army Air Corps made the ultimate sacrifice during action in New Guinea while serving as a gunner with the 408th Bomber Squadron, 22nd Bomber Group (Heavy). Willard was born in 1920, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in JAN 1941. After a year at the University of Illinois, Brother Lindeman left for service in the Pacific.

Respect can be paid to Brother Lindeman at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, Plot Q, Row 0, Site 73.

26 JUL 1945

USS Hissem (DE-400) arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on this date following service in the Atlantic Theater, and she would remain there through the end of the war. Hissem was named in honor of IL Alpha Brother Ensign Joseph Metcalf Hissem, U.S. Navy Reserve who was killed in action at the Battle of Midway. For his heroic actions, Brother Hissem was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross – making him one of the highest decorated SigEp Patriots.

26 JUL 1958

Korean War Veteran and Ace, American test pilot, SigEp Citation Recipient and IN Alpha Brother Captain Iven Carl "Kinch" Kincheloe, Jr., U.S. Air Force died on this date when his F-104 Starfighter crashed near Rosamond Dry Lake in California. Brother Kincheloe earned fame for piloting the Bell X-2 research rocket plane to a world's record of 126,200 feet on 07 SEP 1956. He was nicknamed “America’s No. 1 Spaceman.”

Born in Detroit in 1928, Iven was interested in aircraft from a very young age. At just four years of age, he took his first airplane ride with a barnstormer, and obtained his pilot’s license when he was 16 years old.

Brother Kincheloe graduated from Purdue University with degrees in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, and entered the Air Force through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). He took pilot training at Randolph Air Force Base, Arizona and earned his wings in 1950. Later that year, Kinch began flying mission over Korea. Before the conclusion of hostilities, he had flown more than 130 missions, and shot down 10 communist planes – making him one of 12 Air Force pilots with 10 or more jet victories. For his exemplary wartime service, Iven was awarded the Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses and four Air Medals.

As a test pilot, Brother Kincheloe piloted 70 different types of U.S. and foreign aircraft before being selected as a pilot for the X-2 and taking it to its record altitude. For this achievement Kinch was presented with the Mackay Trophy, as well as another Distinguished Flying Cross, and nicknamed.

Brother Kincheloe was selected as one of the first three pilots in the next rocket-powered aircraft program, the X-15, and would have been part of the Man In Space Soonest Project if not for his crash in 1958. Later that year, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots established the Iven C. Kincheloe Award to recognize outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing, and his accomplishments and memory live on each year the award presented.

In SEP 1959, Kinross Air Force Base, Michigan, was renamed Kincheloe Air Force Base in his honor, and remained in service until SEP 1977. He posthumously received a number of awards including the Air Force Association David C. Shilling Award, the Astronautic Award from the American Rocket Society, and the Legion of Merit from the Air Force. A monument also stands a few miles east of his hometown of Cassopolis, Michigan. It is an angular stone slab twelve feet high bearing a silver model of the X-2 pointed skyward.

In 1992, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, CA, and in 2011, Iven was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Respect can be paid to Brother Kincheloe at Section 2, Site 4872-1 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

MA Beta SigEp performs heroic ocean rescue

Thanks To Carey Heckman for passing this along.

Dear Sigma Phi Epsilon Community:

Ryan Mathie, Sigma Phi Epsilon Massachusetts Beta, saved the life of a 17-year old girl as described in the news article below.

Ryan Mathie, an off-duty lifeguard, demonstrated his leadership and unselfish concern for another human being with this courageous act. Ryan is a lifeguard at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Massachusetts Beta.

I am so proud of Ryan Mathie and his heroic act.

Sincerely,

Sharon Wulf, Ph.D.
Faculty Advisor, Sigma Phi Epsilon Massachusetts Beta
Professor of Practice, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Teen still hospitalized after ocean rescue:

Ryan Mathie, 20, of Smithtown, a college student
who works part time as a lifeguard at swimming pools,
said he helped rescue a swimmer in distress off
Robert Moses State Park. (May 31, 2013)

Teen still hospitalized after ocean rescue

Originally published: June 1, 2013 12:30 PM
Updated: June 1, 2013 10:03 PM

By CANDICE FERRETTE AND MACKENZIE ISSLER

Photo credit: Johnny Milano | According to an eyewitness, a beachgoer was air lifted by police out of Field 2 at Robert Moses beach. (May 31 2013)

A 17-year-old Brentwood girl was in serious condition Saturday at Stony Brook University Hospital, a spokesman said, after she was rescued off Robert Moses State Park where she was swimming with friends.
Kevin Palomino and Cheyenne Costales, both 18 of Bay Shore, were treated and released from Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, state park police said. The 17-year-old, Bria Key, was unconscious when she was pulled from the water.

The teens were rescued Friday afternoon by two state park police officers and two beachgoers -- one an off-duty lifeguard.

"They went into the ocean in an area where swimming was not open and where there were no lifeguards and apparently could not make their way back to the beach," said Richard O'Donnell, New York State Park Police chief.

Officer Nathan Sibenik, 28, said two teenagers came up to him and his partner around 4:45 p.m. at Field 2 and alerted them to the three people struggling in the water. Sibenik jumped into the water and was joined by Ryan Mathie, 20, of Smithtown, an off-duty lifeguard. The pair grabbed the 18-year-olds and brought them to shore, and then went back for Key, Sibenik said.

Mathie said he swam "to the last spot where I saw her bob over a wave . . . As soon as I grabbed her, she started coughing up. I just knew I had to get her to shore as fast as possible."

Key was airlifted by Suffolk County police to Stony Brook. Sibenik was treated and released from Good Samaritan for saltwater ingestion and hypothermia, police said.

With Ellen Yan

This Week in SigEp Patriot History, 10 – 16 DEC

Brothers,

“It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“I have just received the February issue of the Journal. I can say that I have read this issue with more than ordinary interest, partly because out here we are hungry for news of our friends and partly because I found out for the first time that at least two of the officers that I know here are Sig Eps.” ~ Written by a Brother serving in North Africa, and published in the April 1943 edition of the Journal

14 DEC 1918

On this date, U.S. Army World War I Veteran and MT Alpha Brother Albert Schak was with the first unit to cross the Rhine at Coblenz, Germany. As the U.S. Third Army occupied Coblenz, it is likely Brother Schak’s unit was attached to the Third.

13 DEC 2000

U.S. Army World War II Veteran and GA Alpha Brother Thomas J. Biggs died on this date in Charleston, WV.

Respect can be paid to Brother Biggs at Sunset Memorial Park, Beckley, West Virginia.

12 DEC 2004

U.S. Army Air Corps World War II Veteran and AL Beta President Glen Allen Deuel died in Huntsville, Alabama on this date at the age of 82. After high school he enlisted and served in the 15^th Army Air Force, 460^th Bomb Group of World War II. When the war was over, he attended the University of Alabama and graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Glen was born in Loxley, Alabama, and grew up in Castleberry, Alabama. After graduating from college, Brother Deuel worked for two years on B-52s for Boeing in Seattle. He then went on to Redstone Arsenal in 1952 of Huntsville, Alabama, and joined the ABMA Wernher Von Braun first launch team and later NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where he worked on major space programs from 1952-1979. He was also a member of the American Rocket Society.

While walking the beaches of Cape Canaveral during the first Redstone launches of our space program, Glen found a new passion in sea shells. He was a founding member of North Alabama Shell Club and Past President of Conchologists of America, the national organization of shell collectors.

Glen served his country during WWII and through his work at NASA for a combination of 30 years. He also volunteered in his community as a member of Huntsville’s Metro Kiwanis Club and received Layman of the Year Award.