Voices of Valor: Ohio Valley Couple Reflects on Lifetimes of Air Force Service
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WHEELING - Wheeling residents Mark and Amy Bishop entered the U.S. Air Force at different times in their lives, but both retired as lieutenant colonels after careers that took them around the world -- and led them to each other.
The Bishops met in 1989 while playing on a co-ed Air Force softball team at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington. Amy was the pitcher, Mark the catcher. They married in 1991.
Mark entered the Air Force in 1977 after graduating from Triadelphia High School in 1972, attending Fairmont State University and completing the ROTC program at West Virginia University from 1975-77.
Amy, a native of North Dakota, graduated from Hankinson High School in 1980 before attending North Dakota State University, where she also participated in ROTC. After graduating in 1984, she entered the Air Force.
Mark said he originally planned to enlist immediately after high school so he could play football in Europe.
“It ended up that my coach told me that I needed to go to college; he convinced me to go to college,” he said.
While in college, he took the ROTC test, which gave him the opportunity to enter the Air Force and eventually see Europe.
Amy said military service was a natural path because many members of her family had served.
“I’m from an Air Force family so I was kind of destined to be in,” she said, noting her father, brothers and sister also served.
“I wanted to get off the farm and see the world and that’s what I did,” she said.
Mark retired in 1997 after 20 years and one month of active-duty service.
Amy served seven years on active duty before entering the Air Force Reserve following the first Gulf War.
“I didn’t care for (the reserves) and took three years off, had children and went back to the reserves and served another 12 years and retired from the reserves in 2008,” she said.
During his career, Mark served in Germany, England, North Africa and Panama during the turnover of the Panama Canal in 1989-90.
Both Mark and Amy also served during the first Gulf War.
Both worked in logistics. Mark led mobile aerial port squadrons that established mobile airports on landing strips and even roadways, while Amy managed fixed-port freight terminals.
Mark said the Gulf War “went well” because it was effectively managed by senior military leadership, including Gens. Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf.
“Somalia was a different story,” he said. “There were nine tribes that overran the government. We were trying to bring peace and order to Mogadishu and Somalia; it didn’t work well. Black Hawk Down -- that’s where it happened. I left prior to that. It took awhile to get it organized.”
Amy managed a passenger terminal at McChord Air Force Base during the Gulf War while neighboring Fort Lewis deployed troops overseas.
“We deployed 10,000 passengers a month out of that terminal,” she said. “Now we have super ports on the East Coast and West Coast.”
After the Gulf War, the couple married and eventually had two sons, Brent, who lives in Huntington, and Shawn, who lives in Wheeling.
Amy later transferred to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, where she worked for 12 years overseeing tanker refueling, cargo operations and passenger movement.
After the family moved to Wheeling in 1998, Amy commuted to Scott Air Force Base 47 times, driving the approximately 8½-hour trip four or five times each year.
Mark said they chose to return to Wheeling because the Ohio Valley is “very pro military.”
He said the people he served alongside were the best part of military life.
“When you’re deployed the people you are with become like family and you trust them,” he said.
Those bonds inspired the couple to start the Mobile Aerial Port Squadron Reunion in Wheeling in 2001. Held every two years, the reunion brings retired Air Force members from across the country together to reconnect.
“It’s a close-knit group of people. If we wanted to spend the night with a friend in any state we could do it. We’re that close. There’s that much respect for the people you work with,” Mark said.
Amy said the reunion has been held at American Legion Post 1 in Wheeling for the past several years.
“We host an ice breaker at our home on Thursday night. Friday is the opening ceremony with the welcome and lighting of a memorial lantern to honor those who have passed, followed by a steak fry. And Saturday we have a pig roast,” Amy said. “Everyone helps out and we all sit around and tell war stories. A closing ceremony is on Saturday evening ending with Taps.”
Mark said the American Legion welcomes veterans from every military branch and provides camaraderie and support.
He added that reunion participants recently donated supplies to assist victims of flooding in West Virginia.
Amy said she enjoyed the opportunity to travel during her military career. Because she grew up in North Dakota, she requested assignments in warmer climates.
“At first, Air Force officials played a joke on her, telling her she was headed to Alaska before revealing she had been assigned to Myrtle Beach.
“From there I was in the Pacific. I went to Japan … and all over the Orient. I went to the Philippines and Korea. … So Mark went to Europe and I went to Asia,” she said.
Both said one of the most difficult aspects of military service was spending time away from family during holidays and birthdays.
Amy also recalled Sept. 11, 2001.
“I do remember 9-11 was tough. I dropped the kids off at school. … I jumped in my car and started driving (to Illinois). Everything happened after I left,” she said.
She learned of the terrorist attacks after reaching Columbus.
“It was eerie. There were no airplanes in the air,” she said.
Mark said another challenge was watching their children grow up while they were serving.
“They grow up really quick,” he said.
After retiring, Mark said adjusting to civilian life took time because of the strong sense of camaraderie found in the military.
“It was a great way of life; 20 years goes quick. It gave me the opportunity to travel. There are 40 countries I slept in -- some worth bragging about and some not.”
One of the greatest benefits of his military career, he said, was meeting Amy.
“I wouldn’t have met my wife,” he said.
Amy said her mother, Esther, who turns 102 this month, was initially reluctant to see her marry Mark because she feared her daughter would move too far away from North Dakota.
“He promised her we would see her a couple times a year,” Amy said. “He kept that promise.”
Today, Amy visits her mother for several weeks at a time in Arizona, while the family’s North Dakota farm continues producing corn, grain and soybeans.
After retiring from the military, Mark worked for 84 Lumber, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cabela’s and Oglebay. Amy later worked for Elmhurst, Kohl’s and Williams Lea.