Remembering a Hometown Hero, and Renaming the Runyon Creek Bridge | Eastern North Carolina Now

    High over the Saudi Arabian skies, USAF 1st Lt. Patrick Olson piloted his OA-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, better known as a "Warthog" to those who flew them. Lt. Olson had been in the air since 0530, and now he knew he had a problem. Lt. Olson had been directing other pilots against Iraqi tank divisions over the skies of Kuwait, and his plane had been damaged extensively by ground fire, and he was very aware of it. Three of his four hydraulic lines had been cut, and he was operating on basically one engine. There was talk back and forth with the control tower of making a controlled ejection, but Lt. Olson knew the limitations of his plane, as well as the sheer toughness of his aircraft, and he believed he could land it. A war was on and it was of utmost importance that this aircraft be serviced and back in the sky to continue the effort. The date was 27 Feb 1991, and a cease-fire to the conflict was less than 24 hours away, but Patrick Olson could not have known that. So he thought of his family, he thought of his duty to his country, and prepared to bring his crippled aircraft in. Fate, however, on that cloudy rainy day at the twilight of the Persian Gulf War, was not so kind to Patrick nor was it kind to those who knew him.

    Patrick Brian Olson graduated in 1983 from Washington High School. He married his high school sweetheart, Robin McLean. He was a high school classmate and a friend to me. We grew up in the same neighborhood and had a lot of the same mutual friends. Patrick loved life and anyone who knew him would tell you about his sense of humor, but one thing he was serious about was his future. He was very serious about what he wanted to do from a very early age, and that was serving his country in the military and specifically the United States Air Force. He attended the Air Force Academy, just as he stated he would in his high school yearbook. He was not in the military just to be there, he excelled at it, just as he excelled at everything else he did. I have always had a respect for Patrick and I can honestly say that I have never heard a bad word said about him. Upon reading about his death, I have even more respect for him and I am proud that I knew him. He was a true hero and a role model anyone would be proud of, and he's a product of OUR town.

    His loss was a huge and terrible loss for Robin, Patrick's family, the United States Air Force, and all of his friends. According to the book WARTHOG: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War by William L. Smallwood, Pat's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Bob George said "He had a great natural talent for leadership, he was intelligent, and he was intensely patriotic - I mean he flew every mission with a folded American flag under his seat. There is absolutely no question in my mind that he had the quality of leadership that could have taken him to the top job in the Air Force. We lost a potential chief of staff."

    Recently a new bridge has opened up over Runyon Creek, linking Washington to Washington Park. I don't think I have to tell you how important this bridge is to our community, nor do I have to explain how much it was missed during the time it wasn't there. We would like to propose to the community that this bridge be renamed in Patrick's honor as the Capt. Patrick B. Olson Bridge.

    There are many reasons why we would like to see this particular stretch of roadway named in honor of Patrick Olson. First, it is a new and vital roadway missed every bit as much when it was gone as we miss Patrick. Second, local people use it more than people who are not from here. We would guess nine out of ten people who cross this bridge do so daily, and knew of Patrick in some way, be it as a friend of his, or his family, a friend of Robin or her family, or a classmate of his.

    Photos courtesy of Dan and Lorraine Olson.

    Third, it's time. There is a memorial to his honor near his base in Arizona that honors his name; why not here? It's time for the citizens of our town and county to give this man the honor and remembrance he deserves. Patrick Olson lived in this community, graduated here, trained for the Air Force Academy here, and forged his dreams here. And there is nothing to say that although this man was definitely career military, that he would not have come back here in retirement had things been different. He may be now or in the future sitting in a chair beside the same city councilmen or county commissioners we are petitioning today to make this happen. It's coming up on the twentieth anniversary of his ultimate sacrifice, and it's TIME.

     This started out as a Facebook status that Art posted and immediately had thirty responses on, all to the positive. We created a Facebook page, devoted to the effort and have over 250 followers. We created an online petition, which has now over 450 supporters. In short, we seem to have some local support in this effort and we haven't even tested it the real world. So now it's here... and we think it should be done. After twenty years, we feel it is owed.

    We feel that Patrick deserves this honor, on THIS bridge at THIS time for the aforementioned reasons. The Gulf War, you must understand, was a defining event for our generation. Not a man or woman stateside did not know someone who was over there amongst the 600,000 personnel stationed for this. There always the possibility of a draft, and while everyone in power denied it, who knew whether that was actually truth. It was a scary time, the largest conflict this nation had seen since the Korean War. The possibility of a full-scale world war existed too; what if Israel HAD retaliated against the SCUD attacks? No one knew what would happen. Patrick was a man in the midst of all this.

    Some we have brought this up to wonder "why not honor ALL fallen veterans". Our position on that is this: we believe they all should be honored and remembered in some way. A "Veteran's Memorial Bridge" for instance, however, is far too generic. That could be found in any corner of the nation and it honors everyone and no one at the same time. We would support just as much an effort to honor Kevin Jones, who perished in Iraq 22 Sep 2005 in some way, and we would hope that 20 years later, and hopefully less, that Kevin's peers, family and friends will fight just as hard as we are fighting to get Patrick memory honored. We would fight just as hard to get any fallen veteran honored in our town and our county. But we feel that this bridge at this place and time should be Patrick’s.

    Photos courtesy of Dan and Lorraine Olson.

    We will add here that yes we have been in touch with the family and they all want to remain in the background on this effort of ours. They have all been very supportive and think it's wonderful that people remember Patrick Olson after so many years. It came out of left field to them and they thought everyone had forgotten. We are all here to show them that it has in no way been forgotten. However, they are private people and we respect that. We ask that you respect that too.

    It's time for the people of Washington and Beaufort County to step up and honor this incredible man and patriot, and product of our great city.

    Patrick Olson said, regarding his future plans, in the 1983 Packromak high school yearbook: “I feel that Washington High School has been a sound stepping stone on my long trek to the accomplishment of my goals. I feel I have learned of pride, discipline, and self-sacrifice. But the thing I will miss most is my most treasured gift, good friends.”

    We miss you too, Patrick.