Retiring N.D. Vietnam veteran among last in Air Force [Image 7 of 11]

FARGO, ND, UNITED STATES

06.04.2011

Photo by Senior Master Sgt. David Lipp 

119th Wing, North Dakota Air National Guard

Col. Michael Wobbema, the North Dakota National Guard director of joint staff and assistant adjutant general for air, right, presents a retirement certificate to Chief Master Sgt. James Clemenson, June 4, as his wife Rosie Clemenson stands at his side during Clemenson's retirement ceremony at the North Dakota Air National Guard, Fargo, N.D. Clemenson is the last enlisted airman to have been stationed in Vietnam to retire from the Air Force. Clemenson did two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army from October 1970 through April 1972, serving as a UH-1 Huey helicopter door gunner and a U-21 turboprop crew chief. He joined the North Dakota Air National Guard in 1973 and has most recently served as the National Guard Bureau senior enlisted manager for the joint staff, Washington, D.C. He has served in the United States military for 41 years. Only one other active airman, Chief Master Sgt. Jim Honeycutt, still remains in service that wears a Vietnam Service Ribbon, although it's for temporary duty in country versus a mobilization. Clemenson and Honeycutt's status is among active-duty airmen and does not include drill status Guardsmen, on which no clear statistics were available.

• Date Taken: 06.04.2011
• Date Posted: 06.05.2011 14:59
• Photo ID: 411427
• VIRIN: 110604-F-WA217-208
• Resolution: 4288x2848
• Size: 722.68 KB
• Location: FARGO, ND, US