Paul Mann

Mr Mann was very honored for this, however the first thing he said to me is he wants to share this honor with two individuals. Paul is sharing the honor with his late wife Mary who was beside him every step of the way throughout the military and his journey in life, also his brother Charlie, who served in Vietnam.

Paul was working at Rockwell and went on a delayed entry into the Army, serving 1967-70. Being the forward thinking individual he is, he enlisted as a microwave and satellite communications specialist, he figured he was doing that at Rockwell so he should be able to pass all the tests. He definitely did, went through and was an honor graduate, promoted to E5 from E3 skipping E4. As those that have served know when you get those type of achievements you get bumped up on your dream sheet for duty stations.... Paul picked Alaska and in true military fashion they sent him to Hawaii.

In Hawaii he worked for StratComm, running the only communication link from Vietnam to DC. I can only imagine there were some pretty stressful times. Probably more so than when he was shooting the breeze with some guys stateside at FT Lewis in the middle of the night when the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, picked up the hotline thinking he was going to get a General in Vietnam instead got Paul and some other guys talking away, apparently it went to radio silence pretty quick....

Mr Mann told me something he considered the most interesting thing he's ever done in his life. Another responsibility he had during his time was running back up communication for Apollo 11. Just in case you are slipping a bit on history, Apollo 11 was the first space mission to land humans on the moon.

Paul told me one thing he learned from the military was to give back to his community and country. He has done a very admirable job of that.

Paul spent many years as a Scoutmaster, and served on the Center Point Fire and Ambulance service for over a decade. He is currently in his 11th year as a city council member and by his own words winding down on that. Paul is very proud most recently as a councilman of the new sewer treatment facility and Fire Department, I among many are very appreciative of that.

Personal life Paul retired from General Mills as a project engineer where he worked 37 years, raised 3 successful boys and I quote "they never went to jail so that's good".

Paul loves the town of Center Point, whole heartily believing it's a great place to live and gives a great education for young kids growing up.

He enjoys photography, woodworking and fishing. Actually Paul spent 15 years in the Iowa Bass Federation where he was a tournament director. He also enjoys traveling and camping, he gets up to Canada a couple times a year, just spent a couple months in Florida and he has an awesome Alaskan trip planned.

It was a joy to sit and catch up with Paul, I invite everyone with me to thank him for his service to our country and community.

Thank you Paul