Congratulations to Cadet First Lieutenant Matthew Niemi for receiving the 2019 Tom Hudner Scholarship of Honor

Please help us congratulate Civil Air Patrol Cadet Matthew Niemi and wish him well as he departed on June 18th to the United States Air Force.  He is attending basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX.

“As a young child, I lived in a foreign country and experienced first-hand what it is like not to have freedom. Being raised in a military household, taking advantage of what this great country has to offer, and realizing the amazing freedom this country has, it really makes me want to give back and uphold that freedom that is seen nowhere else in the world.

Protecting the people of the United States was my goal and now is a dream come true. I am excited to join the Armed Forces this year and see what opportunities it has in store. This scholarship will help with my future career in the Air Force. I am very thankful for the Brian LaViolette Foundation recognizing those going into public service sectors.”

Left to right: Lt Col. Stephen Kohler, David Konrath, Matthew Niemi, Doug LaViolette and Lt Col Robert Koehler, Northeast Group Commander, WI Wing CAP

The Tom Hudner Scholarship of Honor is sponsored by David Konrath and awarded through the  Wisconsin Wing Civil Air Patrol. 

“Matthew is such a deserving young man to receive the Thomas Hudner Scholarship of Honor and I know Tom is smiling down excited to see the next generation is in good hands.” – David Konrath, sponsor of the Tom Hudner Scholarship of Honor.

As a fighter pilot in the Korean War, Thomas Hudner routinely completed his missions by air. But in a dramatic rescue attempt of a fellow pilot, Hudner executed a wheels-up landing in enemy territory and found himself battling the elements on the ground. The snow and cold of December 1950 in North Korea found Hudner thinking not of himself or the enemy, but of one fellow Navy pilot, Ensign Jesse Brown, the Navy’s first African American aviator.

President Truman awarded Thomas Hudner the Congressional Medal of Honor on April 13, 1951 for his courageous actions.