Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Jerry Harlan | Vitzthum Hall at the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center, Sept. 15, 2015, and...... read more read more
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Retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. George A. Vitzthum never cut ties to the Air National Guard detachment where he oversaw service member's education, and now the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center secured his memory on campus.
TEC officials will dedicate a dormitory building in Vitzthum's honor here Thursday, Oct. 8, with a ceremony at 10 a.m. in Wilson Hall.
The dedication event will include remarks from Vitzthum; from his daughter, retired Col. Carmella Lawson; from TEC's third commander, retired Col. Larry Martin; and from TEC's current commander, Col. Jessica Meyeraan.
Colonel Meyeraan said, "Chief Vitzthum, along with a small group of dedicated professionals, built this center from the ground up. We are proud of the important contributions Chief Vitzthum made to our heritage. He earned this honor, and we are pleased that his legacy will be preserved in the naming of this building."
Media can attend the event and should contact Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith, public affairs manager, at 865-336-4106 to coordinate base access and escort.
BACKGROUND: Vitzthum Hall, or Building 406, provides temporary lodging for 98 students and guests and finished construction in April 1993 during a multi-million dollar campus building project. The base plans to renovate it sometime next fall.
Chief Vitzthum served for more than 15 years with the TEC as a curriculum developer, as an instructor, as a training director and as its second commandant between 1970 and 1985. He retired from military service in 1993.
Vitzthum joined the regular Air Force in 1955 and the Reserves in 1959. He joined the Missouri Air National Guard in 1963. He was a ground equipment technician, a first sergeant, an aircraft production scheduler and an honor guard, among many other duties, experiences and positions.
Air National Guard officials credit Vitzthum as a key figure in establishing the Airman leadership school and the NCO academy, as well as the officer preparatory academy. He set up other Air Force schools, courses, curriculums, workshops and seminars.
The Air National Guard's first noncommissioned officer academy graduated its first 103 students on July 19, 1968, at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base. The school expanded rapidly and added NCO leadership school (precursor to today's Airman leadership school) in 1970 and an officer preparatory academy. The leadership school was the first of its kind accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The TEC's Paul H. Lankford EPME Center has since graduated nearly 40,000 NCO academy students as well as more than 20,000 Airman leadership school students. More than 14,600 officers earned their commissions on the campus prior to the 2009 relocation of the Academy of Military Science to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Thousands of others attended professional and continuing education courses on the campus located in Louisville, Tennessee.
Additional information is at www.angtec.ang.af.mil.
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2015 13:00 |
| Story ID: | 177899 |
| Location: | LOUISVILLE, TN, US |
| Hometown: | KNOXVILLE, TN, US |
| Hometown: | LOUISVILLE, TN, US |
| Hometown: | MARYVILLE, TN, US |
| Hometown: | ROCKFORD, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 126 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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