TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker Air Force Base worker and former U.S. Air Force Capt. John Adkison, 71, was honored Nov. 15 by the Woodring Wall of Honor committee as one of several “2018 U.S. Air Force Legacy Veterans of the Year.” The group annually pays tribute to a handful of heroes selected from each U.S. military branch.
Adkison was recognized during the “Celebrate America: A Tribute to Our Veterans” event at the First National Bank Center in Enid. Representatives from various Oklahoma agencies and local leaders recognized him with several awards: a City of Enid proclamation; Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin commendation and a citation from the Oklahoma State Legislature.
Adkison is a former B-52 navigator who flew in more than 140 combat Vietnam missions. He has earned a host of awards, including two Distinguished Flying Crosses and seven air medal awards.
His relationship with Tinker AFB began in 1969 after graduating from Oklahoma Baptist University, when Adkison came to the base to get a physical prior to joining the USAF. It was the beginning of a proud journey that would bring him back to TAFB again and again.
An active duty officer, Adkison completed assignments of increasing responsibility in the U.S. and overseas before being medically discharged in 1982. In the early 1980s, he worked as a federal employee in management with Tinker AFB’s B-52 program,
During his career, Adkison worked in logistics management at Andersen AFB in Guam, for NATO in Belgium and in USAF munitions programs at the Pentagon.
Adkison returned often to work in a variety of leadership positions at Tinker AFB, including in logistics and program management on the B-52 programs. He served as a Dynamics Research Corporation contractor on the B-52 Program until 2010. At the request of the B-52 program management branch chief, he returned to civil service in 2010 as a re-employed annuitant to work in B-52 programs management.
“March 30, 2018, was my last day of civil service,” he said. “I then got a job in the same office I was working in as a contractor for PE Systems on an advice and assistance services contract working on B-52 program modifications.”
Adkison’s memories of his service in Vietnam are still sharp, as his in-depth knowledge about working at Tinker AFB on a wide variety of programs and as a subject matter expert on the B-52 programs.
When asked if he was surprised by working on basically the same aircraft he flew in the early 1970s, Adkison just smiles and shakes his head.
“The B-52 aircraft was conceived in Washington D.C., by the Air Force and The Boeing Company in 1947, so basically we’re the same age,” he said. “It is also the Air Force’s birthday. We’re always upgrading and putting new improvements on the B-52s and plan to keep flying them for years to come.”