Civil Air Patrol Squadrons Assist at Historic New Orleans Lakefront Airport Re-dedication

Pontchartrain Composite Squadron Color Guard members
Dean Scott, Second Lieutenant Francesca Giroir,
Mario Molina, and Colton McClintock stand ready to serve.

New Orleans, Baton Rouge, New Roads – Five Civil Air Patrol Squadrons assisted at the recent re-dedication ceremony of New Orleans Lakefront Airport’ s Historic Terminal.  The forty cadets and seniors represented the Pontchartrain Composite Squadron, the Billy Mitchel Squadron, the St. Tammany Squadron, the Ascension Squadron, and the Alvin Callendar Squadron. The Pontchartrain Composite Squadron color guard presented the color guard ceremony with precision and respect.  Civil Air Patrol (CAP) members assisted with brochures and parking.  Lieutenant Colonel Kathy Beauford presented a table full of free aerospace education materials such as bookmarks, photos, and toy propellers.  Photos and stickers of the Mars Rover “Curiosity” were distributed because NASA Solar System Ambassador Kathy Beauford arranged for the Civil Air Patrol’s name to be placed on the rover itself.  Also distributed were copies of  Beauford’s Teacher’s Companion to the Space Station: A Multi-disciplinary Resource re-printed by CAP and Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Billy Mitchel Squadron Second Lieutenant Erin Seidemann
dresses to honor Amelia Earhart who stayed overnight
at the terminal on her last flight before her unsuccessful
attempt to fly around the world.

Civil Air Patrol aerospace education activities include experiments, demonstrations, leadership, physical training, and trips to air shows and aviation museums. Activities include robot building and robotics programming, building and flying remote control airplanes, and building and launching model rockets. Civil Air Patrol cadets range from 12 years to 18 years of age. A cadet who goes through our whole program enters the armed services with an automatic bump in grade and pay. The public is invited to meetings on Tuesdays from 7 to 9pm at the VFW Hall at 1133 Hickory Avenue, Harahan, La. 70123  

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 61,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 54 lives in fiscal year 2011. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to nearly 27,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. CAP received the World Peace Prize in 2011 and has been performing missions for America for 70 years. CAP also participates in Wreaths Across America, an initiative to remember, honor and teach about the sacrifices of U.S. military veterans. Visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or www.capvolunteernow.com for more information.