ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - After more than 60 years spent serving our nation in the air, a local World War II veteran receives the highest honor for civilians.
Wesley Hillman of Roanoke is 92-years-old and was unable to make it to Washington D.C. for the ceremony. Thankfully, Congressional leaders decided to bring the ceremony to him.
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Wesley Hillman learned how to fly a plane when he was only a 10-year-old boy. Now, 82 years later, he holds the Congressional Gold Medal for his service.
If you're wondering how a boy could get into a cockpit, it all started out with his first job at the Roanoke air strip along with his brother, Wally.
"The cows liked to come out and lay where the planes landed in the sun because it was warmer there so we would go out and chase the cows off the runway so the planes could land," Wally said.
Soon he taught his brothers to fly and at age 17 he became Americans youngest flight instructor. During World War II, his service to the Civil Air Patrol was teaching young Navy pilots how to fly a war plane.
"He was a tough instructor, but they loved him for it," Wally said.
He's instructed more pilots than anyone else in southwest Virginia's history, some of whom, including his brothers, flew to protect their country.
For years of service and a lifetime of flying, he now wears the highest honor a civilian can earn, the Congressional Gold Medal.
He says he is humbled by the praise he says he earned by doing something he loved.
"I don't know what this is all about. There are so many people that deserve so much more that they've done. I just say, I really appreciate it," Wesley said. "That's all I can say."