Air Force aids in search for missing Alzheimer's patient

Published July 7, 2008
By Tech. Sgt. Brian Jones
96th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- When efforts to locate an 83-year-old man with Alzheimer's who went missing from the Crystal Bay Senior Living community in Sandestin, Fla., July 3 carried into a second day, a call from the Walton County Sheriff's Department went out to Eglin AFB for 40 volunteers to help in the search.

Nearly double that number boarded two buses headed for the search area July 6 to team with members of Florida's Departments of Agriculture and Forestry.

Seventy-nine Airmen split into two search teams accompanied by 96th Security Forces Squadron members on all-terrain vehicles to comb a heavily-wooded, one-mile by one-mile area near where the man went missing.

"If it were my grandpa, I'd want someone out looking for him," said Master Sgt. David Meacham, 96th Mission Support Squadron first sergeant.

"To have this many people show up on short notice on a Sunday morning speaks volumes to our Airmen's commitment to our neighbors," added Chief Master Sgt. Troy Engholm, Command Chief, Air Armament Center and 96th Air Base Wing.

As of July 8, the man remains missing. However, local officials say the efforts of Eglin AFB ruled out a large amount of wooded land allowing searchers to focus on other areas.