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HEROES
IN OUR MIDST
Chief Master Sgt. Michael Ingham
U.S. Air Force
 HAVERHILL – Next month Mike
Ingham will retire after 33 years of service in the Air
Force, both on active duty and in the reserves. His
assignments have taken him all over the world: Germany,
Italy, Spain, England, Alaska and Central America.
Born in Haverhill in 1953, Mike grew up in the city and
attended Haverhill High School. He graduated in 1971 and
at the time had no interest in joining the military,
particularly since the Vietnam War was still being
fought.
His mother urged him to continue his education and signed
him up at the Montserrat College of Visual Art in
Beverly. She told him that if he didn’t pursue
educational opportunities, he would end up “driving
a truck.”
Mike went off to school and studied fine art, photography
and sculpture, among other pursuits. But after two years,
Mike was looking for something else. So in December of
1973, Mike Ingham went down to see the Air Force
recruiter in Haverhill and enlisted.
Mike was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for
what was supposed to be eight weeks of basic training. He
had been told that this was the best time of the year to
go because there were two weeks during Christmas and New
Year’s that didn’t count. However, he remembers
that when he got there he found out that he still had to
train during those two weeks that “didn’t
count” - so he ended up with a total of 10 weeks of
basic training.
On New Year’s Day, 1974, during training, Mike met
Shirley Lawrence from the small town of Alger, Ohio.
After a short courtship, the two were married on February
23, 1974.
After basic, Mike was sent to Sheppard Air Force Base,
also in Texas, for further training. Shirley was
initially assigned to Chanute Air Force Base, Ill. for
schooling as a jet mechanic, but was later reassigned to
Sheppard Air Base where the two were reunited. After a
short courtship, the two were married on February 23,
1974.
Mike had decided he wanted to be a loadmaster, one who
loads equipment and supplies onto airplanes. But that
particular school was not open at the time, so he ended
up at the “heavy equipment” school. Here, Mike
learned to operate front-end loaders, bulldozers, cranes,
graders, forklifts and large tractor-trailers. He
chuckles when he recalls his mother’s warning about
ending up “driving a truck.”
Mike was asked to stay on as an instructor, but he and
Shirley decided to accept an assignment to Bitburg Air
Base in Germany as part of the 36th Tactical Fighter
Wing. Mike was now a heavy equipment operator and spent
his time maintaining/constructing roads and buildings at
the base. One of his critical jobs was training for the
emergency repair of runways.
This was during a period of the Cold War when the threat
from an invasion of Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces was
always present and the U.S. had to be prepared. If the
Soviets ever attacked, the route would be through
Germany. Bitburg was a major defensive position and once
its fighters took off to oppose the invading force, they
would need undamaged runways to land on, refuel and
continue combat operations.
Meanwhile, Shirley had been trained to service F4 Phantom
jets and in Bitburg became the first female crew chief to
maintain F4 fighter planes.
After two years in Germany, Mike and Shirley were
transferred to Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Mike
continued to operate heavy equipment in maintaining the
base infrastructure, but occasionally got to load the
giant C-5A Galaxy cargo plane.
Near the end of the two years in Little Rock, Mike and
Shirley decided it was time to leave the Air Force and
return to civilian life. They came back to Haverhill and
Mike got a job with J & A Construction, and later
with Toremeo Trucking, both in Methuen.
Then, in 1978, Shirley decided she wanted to join the Air
Force Reserves. However, shortly afterwards she changed
her mind and told Mike she was signing him up instead.
The next weekend Mike reported to the 905th Civil
Engineering Squadron at Westover Air Force Base in
western Massachusetts.  Shortly afterwards, the
squadron was reorganized to become the 439th Civil
Engineering Squadron.
He remembers the first thing he was told when reporting
for duty – get a haircut!
This would be the beginning of Mike Ingham’s
life-long commitment to the Air Force Reserves.
Reservists train one weekend a month and have a two-week
deployment once a year. It was during these two-week
deployments that Mike got to travel the world.
He remembers well his first assignment, in 1978, to
Lakenheath Air Base in England. Mike’s main job was
to build revetments on the base, but at one point he was
given the keys to a tractor-trailer and told to deliver
some material. He recalls the harrowing experience of
quickly learning how to drive a big rig on the left-hand
side of the road without creating an accident!
In 1989, about 50 members of the 439th spent two weeks at
the Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras. Mike, who was a
master sergeant by now, unfortunately was not allowed off
base because there was a lot of unrest at the time. The
Contras were still fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua
and General Manuel Noriega, as the leader of Panama, was
suspected of being a drug kingpin. Mike remembers that
the base was crawling with Special Forces troops and,
while the 439th was at the base, the U.S. actually sent
forces into Panama to capture Noriega.
 In the early 1990s, after the
region had settled down, Mike and the 439th were sent to
Howard Air Force Base in Panama to renovate buildings for
housing units. Mike vividly remembers his fascinating
tour of the Panama Canal and its huge locks and
ship-towing trams.
He also recalls his experience in Panama City. There was
a great disparity between the rich and the poor and it
showed. Mike says there were occasionally dead bodies in
the streets with buzzards nearby. He had never seen
buzzards in a city before.
In the late 1990s, after Hurricane Mitch devastated
Honduras, Mike and his squadron were again sent to that
Central American country, this time to rebuild a school
destroyed by the storm. In the area where they were to
work, over 2000 people had died and thousands more were
still missing. Even with all this hardship, the Hondurans
were delighted to see the 439th.
The mayor and a large number of locals turned out to help
the Air Force squadron build the new school. With
everybody pitching in, the school was completed within
the two-week period the 439th was on site.
Twice while Mike was with the 439th, the unit was
activated. The first time was in 1990 for operations
Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The 439th spent seven
months at Westover, helping to keep the base running
during the massive build up of troops being sent to
defend Saudi Arabia and eventually liberate Kuwait.
Westover was a launching point for troops from all across
the country on their way over to the Middle East.
The second time the 439th was activated was after the
Iraq War in August of 2004. The squadron spent four
months at the Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE). This base was a support hub for our
troops fighting the terrorists and insurgents in various
parts of Iraq.
The base operated with KC-135 tankers and U-2 spy planes,
as well as several of the new Northrop Grumman Global
Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Mike worked directly for the base commander, a colonel,
on managing construction/maintenance projects as well
helping with security for the base and its personnel.
During most of Mike Ingham’s association with the
439th, there were about 100 reservists in the squadron.
Approximately 10 percent of these were women. In recent
years, the 439th has been reorganized by adding other
units and now numbers about 150 reservists.
When the 439th was first organized into a squadron, Mike
offered his art school training and proudly designed the
unit’s emblem.
Since Mike has belonged to the squadron, the 439th has
received several “outstanding unit” awards and
Mike is quick to add that he feels privileged to work
with what he calls “the finest group of
electricians, carpenters, contractors and maintenance
people that you could ever imagine.”
The 439th Civil Engineering Squadron is part of what is
called the Air Force Expeditionary Force.
The Expeditionary Force coordinates the various Air Force
Reserve units from around the country so that when one
unit leaves an assignment, another seamlessly takes its place. This
provides continuity until the task is completed.
During much of Mike’s time in the reserves, he used
his specialized training and expertise to
Haverhill’s benefit.
He has worked at the city’s wastewater plant, in the
highway department, at the water department, and for the
past 11 years he has been Director of Veterans’
Services.
Mike and Shirley have two children: Michael Robert Ingham
and Joseph Aldan Ingham; and two grandchildren.
Michael Robert followed in his parent’s footsteps
and spent five years in the Air Force as a helicopter
mechanic, servicing the H-60 Black Hawk transport
helicopters used by the Special Forces. Joseph is
currently a police officer in Haverhill.
Michael Ingham, we thank you for your 33 years of service
to our country. Shirley and Michael Robert, we also thank
you for your years of Air Force service.
To nominate a veteran to be honored as a “Valley
Patriot of the Month,” please email us at valleypatriot@aol.com,
or call us at (978) 557-5413
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The December, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 10,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover,
Methuen, Haverhill, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Groveland,
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Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, Hampton & Salisbury
Beach, and Lowell.
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