Born: 08/12/1939
Inducted: 10/14/2000
The photo at right of Captain Cassiman was taken
while he was the Commanding Officer of the US Naval Air Station
Agana, Guam.
Air Station Agana began its life as a base for
Japanese "Zero" fighters during World War II. Captain
Cassiman relates this story, "Legacies would show up from time
to time, such as an instability in the right runway. We finally had
to dig down to locate the problem, only to find an oxidizing
reciprocating engine that was collapsing into itself with the runway
above. We never could identify the make of the engine, but we were
able to dig it out, back-fill the hole and compact it with dirt
before re-paving the runway."
He commanded VA-94, (Attack Squadron 94) from
January, 1980 until March, 1981. The squadron flew the A-7E Corsair
II aircraft off the USS Kittyhawk, CV-63, operating in the western
Pacific and Indian Oceans during his command.
Captain Cassiman also served as Head, Strategic
Plans, Policy and Programs Division in the Pentagon. He has been
very active in promoting aviation among Native American youth.
Captain Cassiman attended the Investiture Ceremony
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin October 26, 2002. While our time together was
short, we did a get a chance to discuss our plans for an interview
column in the new WAHF Flyer newsletter. Paul graciously agreed to
an e-mail interview. We developed our interview questions and sent
them to Paul just in time for the holidays. He drafted his response
over the next six weeks.
His
interview column was published in the March 2003 WAHF Flyer
Newsletter but his words overwhelmed us in both length and passion.
We felt that his response was too abridged in the newsletter and
deserved a wider dissemination. Click here
to read Captain Paul Cassiman's entire interview.
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