‘A joy to have around’

Seven decades ago a Port Orford High School graduate attempted unsuccessfully to enlist in the Air Force. The allotment for enlistees was filled.

Howard Faught was working in a lodge owned by his former high school typing teacher. Howard’s boss, who had worked in the inspector general’s office, made a call, which quickly led to Faught enlisting in the Air Force on Jan. 3, 1951.

During an interview this past week, Howard admitted he had no previous mechanical training or experience but scored high as a mechanic on an Air Force aptitude test. That led to several months of training and eventually to Sculthorpe RAF base in Great Britain.

There he worked on jet B-45s as a Tactical Air Command crew chief. He rose quickly to the rank of staff sergeant while working there on aircraft carrying nuclear bombs during training flights. The B-45 was one of America’s first operational bombers to employ jet propulsion, and it was the first four-jet aircraft to drop an atomic bomb and the first to be refueled in midair.

“I loved the Air Force,” the 89-year-old said while helping prepare lunch Thursday at the Lane County Republican headquarters in Pleasant Hill where he works as a volunteer.

A day earlier he was honored for his military service during a “Quilts of Valor” ceremony. Jerry Morgan and Gary Dulley of Lowell helped direct the ceremony.

“It made me feel special,” Howard said.

Howard called Pleasant Hill his home until he got a job “crushing rock” in Prineville and remained there for four decades. Two years ago he returned home to live in a recreational vehicle on property owned by his daughter Shannon and her husband Andy O’Dell.

He made his way to the county GOP headquarters shortly after it opened two years ago. He’s known there for bringing chili and other food as lunch for volunteers. Meanwhile, he is honing his skill at whipping up a tasty potato salad.

He’s also handy with a fly swatter and can tell a “tall tale” with the best of them, especially a snake story or two that crawl out of his “rock crushing” experience in Eastern Oregon.

“We opened headquarters here two years ago, and Howard showed up a few months later,” said John Large, Lane County GOP chairman.

“We soon adopted him,” Large added. “He’s a real joy to have around.”

Longtime Oregon journalist Dean Rea, widely known for his years as a University of Oregon journalism educator and editor at The Register-Guard in Eugene,  serves as a founding board member, correspondent and columnist for The Herald.