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Freedom Flight's POW / MIA Message From Above

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




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