Regina Aune speaks to Yokota on everyday heroism

“Leadership, courage and integrity are built on what you do every day, in the ordinariness of your job and life,” she said. “It’s lost in the same way…”

She is retired Air Force Col. Regina Aune, and she addressed Airmen during the 69^th Annual Air Force Ball at Yokota. Her presentation focused on how to have character, integrity and courage in the everyday routine of life. She also spoke of the importance of history, Air Force and personal, and how it ties people together and teaches them how to be an every-day hero. 

Aune, who served as a Nurse Corps officer for 28 years, can speak of heroism on small and large scales from personal experience. To explain the importance of small, every-day actions, she first recalled one of the most impactful experiences of her life.

In 1974, Aune was part of Operation Baby Lift in Vietnam, relocating orphans from Vietnam to the U.S. Aune, then a flight nurse, and her staff faced tragedy when the C-5 Galaxy she and hundreds of orphans were on crashed.

Aune described stepping out of the C-5 wreckage into a rice patty.

“Everywhere I looked I saw bodies, destruction and fire,” Aune said. “I was scared and overwhelmed. I didn’t want to deal with the situation.”

Yet, Aune steeled herself and took charge of the situation. More than 70 children and nearly 50 adults died in the crash, but Aune helped aid survivors. By the end, more than 170 walked away from the crash. She does not believe any one of those who saved lives that day thought they were being heroic. For her actions, Aune was the first woman to receive the Cheney Award.

“We were doing what was expected of us,” Aune said. “Our courage didn’t come from the situation, it was because we practiced courage and leadership in small ways every day.”

Yet, the small things are a battle in themselves.

Aune quoted from The Heart of a Man, written by Navy Lt. Frank Elkin, a pilot, during the Vietnam War.

“I have always said that it is easier to die for an ideal than live for it,” Elkin wrote. “Dying takes only a moment’s courage, while life is a battle against day-by-day eroding and grinding forces.”

As Aune explained, those small actions were what gave her the courage to act in a moment of desperation.

Col. Kenneth Moss, 374^th Airlift Wing commander, noted that every Airman has the potential to find themselves in a situation like Aune did that day; they will be called upon to act with the same courage as she and other Airmen displayed. 

“Her story is your story; it’s our story,” Moss said. “What happened in 1974 is a part of the long blue line and the minute you put on that uniform you became a part of that story.”