Dean Shalhoup

How awesome it was to see old friend Bob Desmond’s name pop up in the local news headlines the other day, this time thanks to frequent Telegraph contributor Jeffrey Hastings’s coverage of Desmond’s latest in a long string of deeds aimed at benefiting the community in which he has been involved for many decades.

I’ve known Bob Desmond since my days sitting at one of two deteriorating wooden desks that passed for the Telegraph’s sports department back, oh, 40 or so years ago, which coincided with his years deeply involved in coaching and guiding generations of kids in local youth baseball programs.

I’m not sure if I even knew back then that Desmond was an air traffic controller. Our conversations centered around youth sports and getting game scores and other stuff into the paper.

But if i didn’t know, I found out in a big way back almost five years ago, when I sat down with him and listened with undivided attention as he recounted the events of what has to be his most memorable afternoon at work.

But first, the reason Desmond made the news the other day has to do with another major phase of his life, that of a Korean War veteran who now serves as the commander of the New Hampshire Korean War Veterans Association.

Longtime Nashua resident and Korean War veteran Bob Desmond, left, chats with, from left, Deputy Police Chief Kevin Rourke, Nashua Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Steve Buxton, NFR Chief Brian Rhodes, and Police Chief Mike Carignan after Desmond presented the agencies with hundreds of N95 masks this week. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS )

A resident of Nashua’s Hunt Community for the past several years, Desmond, still active and involved at 89, coordinated the delivery of hundreds of N95 masks to New Hampshire, to be distributed to the state’s Korean War veterans.

The masks were part of a huge shipment of around 500,000 masks that the Korean government sent to the United States for distribution to America’s living Korean War veterans.

It turned out that the portion of the shipment that Desmond arranged for distribution to New Hampshire’s Korean War vets was way more than needed; sadly, it seems there are only about 45 Korean War vets left in New Hampshire.

So what to do with the rest of the masks?

At a time when there’s really no such thing as having too many available masks – especially among firefighters, police and paramedics, known collectively as first responders – the answer was obvious.

Nashua Fire Rescue Chief Brian Rhodes hands Korean War veteran Bob Desmond an NFR challenge coin in recognition of Desmond's donation of hundreds of N91 masks to NFR and Nashua police. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS )

So the other day, a group of Nashua first responders dropped by the Hunt Community for a masked-up, socially distanced get-together to thank Desmond for thinking of them.

A portion of the masks, Desmond said, are going to the Liberty House, a unique, “veterans-helping-veterans” facility in Mancheser for struggling veterans.

At the Hunt Community, meanwhile, police Chief Mike Carignan and Deputy Chief Kevin Rourke, along with Nashua Fire Rescue Chief Brian Rhodes and Assistant Chief Steve Buxton, presented Desmond challenge coins and uniform patches from their respective agencies.

Challenge coins are small medallions that organizations present to citizens to honor them for special achievements or acts, such as Desmond’s work securing the masks for first responders.

Later, Desmond regaled his guests with some of the more positive tales of his service in Korea and his years keeping track of aircraft in front of a huge radar screen.

Nashua Fire Rescue Chief Brian Rhodes, right, and Police Chief Mike Carignan chat with Korean War veteran Bob Desmond last week after Desmond presented hundreds of N91 masks to the two agencies. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS )

The best of the best of Desmond’s stories has always been the one scripted 40 years ago this month right there in the control room at the Nashua center.

Jan. 20, 1981 was a Sunday, and sometime during the afternoon hours he and his coworkers began preparing for a particular aircraft to appear on their radar.

Its call sign, “Freedom One,” only hinted at the truly momentous significance of this flight: The roughly 60 individuals aboard the previously anonymous Air Force VC-137 included the 52 Americans just freed from 444 days of captivity in Iran.

The first voice the crew and passengers heard in the U.S. came from the Nashua center. Desmond recalls it was that of fellow controller Frank Bednarz.

“You have just entered the United States of America Ã- we wish to welcome you home and thank you for a job well done,” Bednarz said in part.

In the meantime, Desmond, discussing with coworkers what they could do to celebrate the plane’s arrival home, had secured a recording of “America the Beautiful.”

At song’s end, a voice expressing collective gratitude came over the radio. “Thereís not a dry eye in the aircraft,” the speaker said.

Without hesitation, Bednarz leaned into the microphone. “Well, sir, thereís not a dry eye in the control room either.”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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