Florida Stories

George Hoggard, Kennedy Space Center

GEORGE HOGGARD
(Nominated by Chief Gerald R. Wimberly)
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Kennedy Space Center (NASA), Florida
February 18, 2011

George H. Hoggard is a great American.  He served in the Korean War as a Marine Corps Infantryman and after the war enlisted in the United States Air Force. After his tour in the Air Force he entered the Fire Service as a paid fire fighter with the city of Norfolk, Virginia and served proudly for 9 years.  He became a Fire Fighter at Kennedy Space Center in 1968.  During his career here at Kennedy Space Center he has been involved in the Astronaut Rescue Program for both the Apollo Space Program and the Space Shuttle Orbiter Program.  His expertise as a fire fighter and fire service instructor has provided emergency response services and training to the KSC community. He is also a member of the department’s honor guard and a Civil War re-enactor.  George was instrumental in organizing an American Veterans Color Guard consisting of 11 members dressed in uniforms representing and worn by our military since the Revolutionary War.  This color guard led the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington D.C. in 2008.  George continues to serve as a Fire Officer and has over 53 years in this honorable profession as a first responder.  It is for these reasons I respectfully nominate George H. Hoggard as a Local Service Hero.