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Fairchild Airmen recognized during Buck Knife ceremony

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Sean Campbell
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Graham Crutchfield, a retired Marine, dedicated his afternoon to Team Fairchild Airmen March 9, during the annual Buck Knife Commemoration Ceremony distributing knives to service members who have served overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. The ceremony is held annually at Fairchild.

Sixty Fairchild Airmen received their own knives at this year's event. The knives are unique and can only be earned, not purchased.

Crutchfield took on a project in 2003 to raise money to help service members afford calling cards. Through the retired Marine's dedication and his partnership with the National Veterans of Foreign Affairs organization, he provided Operation Uplink, an organization started by the VFW in 1996, nearly $16,000 toward phone cards for military members deployed from Kootenai County, Idaho.

Since then, he has been on a personal mission, in conjunction with the Buck Knives company, to give service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan a symbol of the appreciation felt by the people at home. He gives the knives to veterans in various locations throughout the Northwest.

This year, the Red Morgan Center was filled with ceremony attendees commemorating both the service of the Airmen present and the appreciation felt by their fellow Americans.

"When I came home from overseas, the reception was quite different from today," Crutchfield said.  "When the folks deployed in Vietnam came home, their reception was even more different. Some were spat upon. I don't want that type of memory associated with future generations of our service men and women. I want them to have good memories of their experience with the public they serve. More of us need to give back to our country, to those who are giving now and in the future."