Freedom Flight's POW / MIA Message From Above

Jim Tuorila's most memorable hot air balloon flightconcentration camps.
comes with a small bit of irony attached to oneWhile doing his doctoral internship at the Topeka,
of its more prominent elements, altitude. TheKansas, VA Medical Center, Tuorila and his wife
veteran balloon pilot and co-founder of Freedomvolunteered to crew for a hot air balloon. When
Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization that raiseshe went to work in Minnesota, they saw a balloon
awareness as well as hot air balloons, had flownin flight one day and decided to volunteer again.
hundreds of times. But when one of hisIn 1987, he appeared on a local TV program to
passengers requested that he take his distinctivetalk about the emotional difficulties families face
black balloon with the easily recognizable POWwhen a loved one returns after years of captivity.
MIA logo to 5,000 feet, Tuorila acquiesced withOn the program he met the daughter of a Navy
little enthusiasm.pilot shot down and declared MIA. The daughter
"I don't like to fly high," he said, laughing. "I'm afraidtold him that the government story of her
of heights. I can't lean over the side of a tallfather's disappearance was very much at odds
building and feel comfortable. I probably wouldn'twith the story told by her father's wingman, who
be flying this balloon if it weren't for the issue."made a point of finding the pilot's family to tell
But the POW/MIA issue and the balloon arethem the true story of the incident.
inseparable. The striking black craft with its threeBy then, Tuorila and his wife were crewing on a
30-foot high POW/MIA logos is like no other andballoon flown by a Vietnam veteran who had
is easily spotted even in a sky like Albuquerque'sbeen encouraging him to set up a non-profit with
in October, when mass ascensions at thean eye toward calling attention to the POW/MIA
Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiestaissue.
might number more than a thousand colorfulThen one day at work, his professional life and his
balloons in all shapes and sizes gliding over the city.weekend life coalesced.
Tuorila's three guests that day came with special"I told my co-therapist, 'You know, I've been
significance. So he opened up the balloon's gasflying and working with balloons for five years
burners and the black craft rose into the air. Hisnow. What about a black POW/MIA balloon? What
passengers were women married to men stillkind of attention would that get?' "
listed as MIA from the Vietnam War. He doesn'tThe co-therapist and co-founder of Freedom
remember which one asked that he fly to 5,000Flight, Vietnam veteran Bill Nohner, thought it was
feet, but Tuorila has been a psychologist at a VAa great idea. A year later, Freedom Flight, Inc.,
Medical Center in Minnesota for 20 years; he wasobtained status as a non-profit educational
curious to see what would happen when theyorganization.
reached that altitude. Balloon flights generally skimIn 1989, the first flight went up. Its first
the earth, the better to see and be seen. Atpassenger was Henry Sha, a World War II
5,000 feet, people on the ground are barely ableveteran and ex-POW who happened to stop his
to see the balloon. He couldn't imagine why hiscar when the balloon landed nearby. Invited
passenger wanted to climb that high.onboard, he didn't hesitate.
He said that the moment they reached theNow in its sixteenth year, Freedom Flight
requested altitude will stay with him forever.continues to attract attention, sometimes through
"We get up there and she says this is the altitudea little luck. At the 2005 Albuquerque International
the military said her husband was at when heBalloon Fiesta, Tuorila volunteered to give rides to
ejected from his plane over Vietnam," he said.the media. A Voice of America camera crew
"She wanted to see what the world looked likemaking a documentary on the balloon fiesta
when he ejected. It touched me so deeply that I'llaccepted his offer. When the crew members
never forget that flight with those women."found out who they were flying with, a new angle
Freedom Flight, the POW/MIA Hot Air Balloonfor the documentary emerged.
Team, has flown in more than seven hundred"When they found out what we were doing with
events since its first flight in November 1989. Thethe balloon, I think the program changed to include
non-profit now has three balloons that attend 35Freedom Flight and everything we were doing,"
to 45 events a year, staffed entirely byTuorila said.
volunteers. The organization grew out of Tuorila'sThe change was in keeping with how Tuorila
vocation, psychology, and his avocation,hot airdescribes the past sixteen years. "The reception
balloons.we've gotten over the years make the hair on
In 1981, while attending graduate school at Texasthe back of my neck stand up," Tuorila said. "It's
Tech University in Lubbock, he worked with abeen incredible. I've had what I assume to be a
group of World War II ex-POWs called the "LostVietnam veteran come up, put $100 in my
Battalion," all of them survivors of more thanpocket and say, 'Keep it up,' then walk away. I've
three years in Japanese prison camps. That workhad family members of the missing come up to
inspired Tuorila to write his doctoral dissertation onme with tears in their eyes. I've had ex-POWs
the effects of captivity, especially regarding thecome up and thank us. Everywhere we go, the
work of Victor Frankl and his famous writingsreception has been positive and overwhelming,
following his own imprisonment in Naziand that keeps us flying.