Last Thursday evening Doylestown Composite Squadron 907 of Pennsylvania Civil Air Patrol held its annual holiday party at Albert Atkinson Post 210 of the American Legion located at 315 North St. in Doylestown.
The meeting brought together cadets, their families, adult squadron members and honored guests, Major Tom Quinn, Group 4 commander; Peter Scott, the Post commander; and Rick Fulginiti, a member of Post 210, for an evening of fellowship.
It was an especially memorable evening because it was the capstone of a successful year for the squadron. Cadet Marlon Hitchon, 19, was promoted from a cadet non-commissioned officer to cadet second lieutenant during the evening when he received his Mitchell Award.
Quinn, the group commander for the region, presented the award to Hitchon. The Mitchell Award is equivalent to becoming an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts. He was the sixth cadet from Doylestown to receive the Mitchell Award in the last year. This is a unique achievement within the Pennsylvania Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
The night also saw Cadet First Lieutenant Amelia Mobley, 16, receive the Healy/Sharp Flight Scholarship which she will use to further her flying lessons to obtain her private pilot license. Mobley recently soloed. She is looking to follow in her parents’ footsteps as a career pilot after graduating from college. Mobley is the daughter of Air Force veterans who flew C-17 transport aircraft for the Air Force.
She is the second cadet in the unit to be honored with this scholarship in the last 18 months. She joins several other cadets from the squadron who are private pilots, including Cadets Caroline Burrows and Jerry Bower who received licenses this year.
One of the core missions of CAP is the training of future leaders within a military framework that cadets can carry with them into their adult life. Having Civil Air Patrol on a cadet’s resume is an advantage when applying for college admissions. Currently two of the unit’s former cadets are in the Air Force and Naval Academies, and one other cadet is a recent graduate of Air Force basic training in Texas. In addition to the squadron’s cadets attending well-known colleges throughout the country, a former cadet is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and another is a Navy Seal.
For the 11th year in a row Doylestown received the Quality Cadet Unit Award. This makes the Doylestown Composite Squadron the leading unit in the state to receive this distinction that acknowledges its consistent excellence in the unit’s cadet program. Among its other achievements for the past year, Lt. Col. Arthur Zapolski who is a retired Air Force colonel, was named the Pennsylvania’s Outstanding Squadron Commander of the Year.
In addition to Doylestown’s cadet program, it also has an adult member component that concentrates on Civil Air Patrol’s flying missions and emergency service operations on the ground. These pilots and flying enthusiasts volunteer their time to fly Cessna aircraft as pilots or flight crew to assist local, state and federal authorities in a host of different missions.
Doylestown Composite Squadron meets every Thursday, except for holidays, at American Legion Post 210 from 7 to 9:15 p.m. Cadets range in age from 12 to 21 and adult membership typically begins at age 21. If you are interested in joining, contact Lt. Col. Arthur Zapolski at 907apz@gmail.com.
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