Volunteer in the Spotlight

Fall, 2002

It’s 9:30 AM as we dial the familiar number. Ring…ring…

“Hello”
“Hi, Louis?”
“Yes”.
“It’s Tom from the Museum. How are you this morning?”
“Just fine”.
“Jeff called in sick. Can you help us out and volunteer again today”?
“Sure, when do you need me”?
“Right now”.
“OK, see you shortly”.

This is the script of a frequent phone conversation between the Museum and Louis Hernandez, one of our newer volunteers. We have come to lean on him a great deal during the summer because we are short handed at this time of year. Many of our volunteers spend the summer in cooler climates. Louis is always willing to help and often handles the floor by himself.

Louis in fact just completed his first year with us in October. He was a pilot with the 729th Squadron of the 457th Bomb Group (H) in the 8th Air Force. Louis was shot down on a shuttle mission to Russia and spent several weeks with a Polish underground resistance group before being turned over to the Russian Air Force who returned him to England. Following that experience he was assigned as a B-29 flight instructor until the end of the war.

Louis spent 31 years as a junior high school principal in El Paso, and has some museum experience as well.

We appreciate your dedication, Louis. Thank You!