Wingmen help make holidays merry for Tinker employee

Published Dec. 18, 2015
By Ron Mullan
Managing Editor

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The holiday season is usually a time for happiness and joy. Families getting together to celebrate the season and making plans for the future. For one Tinker employee, his plans for the future almost took a different direction.

Luke Phelps with the 544th Propulsion Maintenance Squadron was preparing to make a payment on his new home when he discovered that the envelope containing $1,500 was missing. And feeling like the character "George Bailey" from the movie "It's A Wonderful Life," Mr. Phelps could see his hopes and dreams slipping away.

"I was heading to the Tinker Federal Credit Union to make the payment when I realized that the envelope had fallen out of my pocket," said Mr. Phelps. "I started looking around for the envelope and trying to think of what to do if I couldn't find it."

Unbeknownst to Mr. Phelps, who was frantically searching for the missing envelope, a couple of wingmen were looking out for him.

Hang Bui and Hiep Pham, who are assigned to the 558th Software Maintenance Squadron, were taking their daily walk in Bldg. 3001 when they came across an envelope containing 15 100 dollar bills.

"When I spotted the envelope I noticed there was money sticking out of it. I looked inside to see if there was any identification and finding none, Hiep and I began looking for the owner," said Ms. Bui. "We continued walking around the building and not finding anyone to claim the money, we took it to our squadron director's secretary who called security forces to help find the owner."

In addition, the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex command section was contacted and it turned out Mr. Phelps had already contacted them about the lost envelope. After verifying the contents, Mr. Phelps recovered his missing envelope, providing a happy ending to the story.

To show his gratitude, Mr. Phelps offered Ms. Bui a reward for finding his missing money, but in true Wingman fashion, she declined.

"I knew he had just moved into a new house and I felt he should use that money to help make his dream come true," said Ms. Bui.

While there weren't any bells ringing to signify Angels earning their wings as in the movie, Ms. Bui and Mr. Pham were presented with commander's coins for being good wingmen at the 76th Software Maintenance Group's Christmas party by Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex Commander Brig. Gen. Mark Johnson.