The prodigal sergeant returns

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Wesley Wright
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM --  It was a long, winding road for Tech. Sgt. Susan Walthour, 442nd Services Flight food specialist, but she finally made it back home.

Walthour was part of the recent training deployment here -- not but a few miles from the hospital where she was born decades ago.

"The very first morning we came in and drove past Trippler (Hospital)," she said, "it was a heart-stopping moment."

Walthour's father was an Army drill instructor stationed at Scoffield barracks on the island of Oahu, Hawaii in the 1960s. After three and a half years, Walthour, her parents and her older brother moved to Texas, then finally Missouri. Until this deployment, neither Walthour nor her family had been back.

"When I joined the military, (Hawaii) was always my choice destination," she said. "Three years ago when my father passed, I really wanted to come back, so this has been emotional for me."

Walthour's mother, Wanda Hoevet, said she had fond memories of her time on the island and is excited for Walthour, of whom she is proud.

"She is very energetic, a go-getter, and loves her job in the military," Hoevet said. "She loves to see new places and capture them on film."

Walthour said that a love a photography, nature and being around the water were what originally drew her into enlisting in the active-duty Navy in the 1980s. That love of photography served Walthour well on the Hawaii deployment, as she used that skill to collect memories for her mother.

"When mom had little kids, she couldn't get out to see the island," Walthour said. "Everything she didn't get to do, now I'm doing for her."

When she was not supervising or training 442nd FSS reservists at the joint-base dining facility, Walthour found time during the deployment to reconnect with places her mother had lived and worked. 

"Coming back here and walking the walk where my parents were was a great experience," Walthour said. "Just being my family's historian has been a passion."

Now that she has been to her birthplace, she said she now feels like she owes that same opportunity to her son.

"I think that having come here and seeing where I was born, after hearing about it all my life," Walthour said, "now it's important for me to plan a trip to take my son back to Naples, Italy, where(my son) was born."

Senior Master Sgt. Travis Stickels, 442nd Services Flight noncommissioned officer in charge, said he respects Walthour's dedication and work ethic.

"I've worked with her on several (training deployments)," he said. "With the years of experience she brings to the table, she's able to take a wide group, get a schedule together, put them to work and make sure the mission is accomplished."

As the sun sets over the deployment here, twilight also descends on Walthour's storied career. However, there is still plenty of light left to take a few pictures on the way.