Ron Horn trained foreign fighter pilots on the F-86D and F-86L at Moody Air Force Base before returning to college through the Air Force Institute of Technology.

MOULTRIE — An Air Force veteran from Berlin will be the keynote speaker for the annual veterans breakfast Nov. 5.

The breakfast will begin at 8 a.m. at C.A. Gray Junior High School cafeteria with the program to start at 9 a.m.

Ronald Horn of Berlin will be telling of his experiences during the Vietnam War.

In a biography provided to promote the breakfast, Horn said he received his master’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1964 and was assigned to McClelland Air Force Base in California on a seven-year commitment to repay the Air Force for his education.

“Since I only had eight more years until retirement, I assumed we would be there until I retired,” Horn said. “That sounded great to all my family, especially my wife. In the previous 18 years of married life, we had experienced 14 moves!”

The Air Force had other ideas. Just six months later, he was asked to accept a reassignment to oversee flight safety in the Pacific region. After some discussions and negotiations, Horn wound up assigned to Hickman AFB in Hawaii, where Horn would be in charge of flight safety for all transport, utility and helicopter aircraft in the Pacific Air Force inventory.

“That consisted of 16 different types of aircraft strung all over the Pacific,” Horn said. “I had never flown any of them or had any knowledge of their missions. To make it worse, an active war was going on in Vietnam and several of the aircraft were involved in the war.”

Horn’s job was to receive accident reports and aircraft loss reports, review them, comment on them and offer recommendations for corrective action. The first month, he received reports of 22 C-123 cargo planes lost, including most of their crews and cargo, along with four C-130s. The next month was another 22 C-123s and five C-130s.

“At that point I went to see my boss, Col. Franklin, the inspector general for Pacific Air Forces, who reported directly to the four-star commander of the Pacific Air Forces,” Horn said. “I explained to him that the loss of 44 C-123s and nine C-130s in two months was not sustainable. We could neither build replacement aircraft that fast nor could we train and replace crews that quickly. He asked me what I suggested, and I said, ‘I have no idea what’s going on.’”

Horn’s proposal was to go to Vietnam, fly with the crews and see what was causing the planes to go down. Franklin agreed and provided him with a letter from the four-star commander of the Pacific theater that would allow him to come and go from South Vietnam as needed, travel anywhere in the country and stay as long as necessary. The admiral authorized him the highest priority on transportation from all American forces and those of the South Vietnamese military.

“This letter proved to be absolutely amazing,” Horn said, “and nobody questioned it.

“For the remainder of my three-year tour, I spent a total of 18 months in country flying with my units,” he said.

Horn’s biography did not reveal what he learned about the plane crashes. Tom Davis, chairman of the Veterans Activity Committee, which sponsors the veterans breakfast, said that’s expected to be the focus of his presentation Nov. 5.

All veterans are welcome.