Former U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeon Dr. Robert Blake was the guest speaker Thursday evening when the Gaffney High JROTC inducted 16 students into the Kitty Hawk Air Society.

Blake's decorated military career includes being named Strategic Air Command Flight Surgeon of the Year in 1967. He received the Air Medal and Commendation Medal as well as the Vietnam Service Medal and the National Defense Medal.

His military assignments included serving with a B-52 wing at Andersen Air Base in Guam and the Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz.

Blake has been an orthopedic surgeon in Gastonia, N.C., since 1973. He is a lifelong aviation enthusiast, having owned his own airplane and traveled to Oshkosh, Wisc., for the Experimental Aircraft Association's "Air Venture."

His focus Thursday evening was on the leadership role new members of the JROTC's academic honor society will play in their final years as high school students and later years as members of their community. The Kitty Hawk Air Society promotes high academic standards, school and community service, selfconfidence and initiative.

"Successful leadership has a plan and purpose. Vision, reliability, courage and ethics all shape who we are as leaders and are successful traits in business," Blake told the students. "We should put serving other people above ourselves in everything we do."

The Kitty Hawk Air Society was started in 1973 at Southern Wayne High School in Goldsboro, N.C. The name Kitty Hawk was chosen by the Air Force because it relates to the beginning of aerospace activities. In fact, Southern Wayne High School still holds its induction ceremony for the society at Kitty Hawk near where the Wright Brothers made the first successful plane flight.

Each Gaffney High JROTC member inducted Thursday into the Kitty Hawk Air Society received an academic honors cord to wear on their uniforms. A minimum 3.5 grade point average, good citizenship, leadership and community service activities are among the membership requirements.

The new members are Charlie Bishop, Crystal Childers, Robert Dickson, Crystal Duran, Bobbi Jo Fowler, Jeremiah Hall, Mari Hashimoto, Kaelee Ivy, Jamey Jones, Gabrielle Kirby, Darren Ledbetter, Samuel Mabry, Brittany Pelfrey, Brandi Pettit, Alan Reynolds and Misty Reynolds. Gaffney High now has a total of 35 Kitty Hawk Air Society members.