Blue Angels Missing Man Formation Remembers 1st Lt. Travis Manion

Veterans turn out to see Blue Angels at Annapolis
The Capital
By Tim Pratt
Annapolis, Md
Published: May 22, 2014

The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels perform a missing man formation at the U.S. Naval Academy as an aerial salute to honor the memory of 1st Lt. Travis Manion, who was killed in action in Iraq on April 29, 2007.
KATHRYN E. MACDONALD/U.S. NAVY

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Standing near the end of the Naval Academy Bridge on Wednesday afternoon, 71-year-old Bill Sykes peered intently at the sky as the Blue Angels roared above Annapolis.

A Navy veteran who worked on planes years ago in Pensacola, Fla., Sykes said he has seen the high-performance flight group 30 or 40 times.

With the Blue Angels’ return to Annapolis, he and his family spent the afternoon watching the jets fly up and down the Severn River, crossing over surrounding neighborhoods and soaring high into the clouds.

“I just like them seeing them fly,” Sykes said, a USS Constellation hat atop his head and dark sunglasses covering his eyes.

Sykes was one of a number of veterans drawn to the area around the Naval Academy Bridge and World War II Memorial on Route 450 for the Blue Angels performance.

Some sat in chairs and relaxed, their children and grandchildren snapping photos and covering their ears. Others talked with family members and made friends with fellow onlookers.

Among the veterans at the war memorial was Francis Horner, who served with the Army in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. While Horner spent much of the last 40 years living in Glen Burnie, he recently moved to Annapolis and decided to take in the Blue Angels show for the first time.

“I’ve been waiting to see this for years,” Horner said.
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