By John Montesano
The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club’s July 2021 Veteran of the Month is Paul Issak.
He was born October 17, 1940 in Chicago, was graduated from Sullivan High School in 1958, and briefly attended Wright Junior College in Chicago. He joined the Air Force January 1, 1960. His basic training was at Lackland AFB, Texas, followed by advanced training in accounting and finance at Sheppard AFB, Texas. Paul’s assignment was at Minot AFB, N.D., where he was the officers’ payroll clerk. Minot AFB became an Air Defense Command (ADC) Base in February 1957 with the 32nd Fighter Group. A permanent Strategic Air Command (SAC) unit, the 413th Strategic Wing was assigned to Minot AFB in September 1958. Eventually, SAC’s mission grew at Minot and ownership passed from ADC to SAC in 1961. On base were the KC-135A Stratotanker, “Miss Minot”; the B-52 Stratofortress; and one U-2 aircraft. By April 1964, the 455th Strategic Missile Wing became combat ready, complete with a new Minuteman I ICBM complex.
Paul’s time as a payroll clerk came to an abrupt stop February 11, 1962, when he and two others were involved in a violent car accident. They were returning from leave outside of Winnipeg, Canada, when they T-boned an oncoming out-of-control vehicle. Paul was thrown through the windshield, fractured and lost a piece of his skull. He spent three weeks in Winnipeg General, where the broken piece of his skull was removed, and the wound was closed without a plate. He had to go nine months, with an opening in his skull until a plate was put in. The plan was to have him evaluated at Lackland AFB to determine the plan of treatment. Thus, began an epic journey that took 55 days instead of 10 hours.
In April 1962, he was driven by ambulance to Minot in the front seat for a terrifying six hours! Air Vac was to fly him down to Lackland AFB in Texas from Minot. After six weeks, he was flown to Denver (not Lackland) on a six-stop six-hour flight. It was another nine days before he was flown from Denver for another seven hours and several stops to Scott AFB IL. After three days, he finally got to Lackland for evaluation, and it was decided that his surgery to put in a plate would be in November 1962.Following his surgery in November 1962 at Lackland AFB, he was returned to Minot and put on light duty. In July 1963, after experiencing headaches, he was re-evaluated at Lackland AFB which resulted in his medical retirement. Paul was medically retired from the Air Force October 2, 1963 in a ceremony at Minot AFB.
Paul returned to Chicago and worked for several companies as a programmer before settling down at Central States Pension Fund for 22 years. He retired April 2007.
He has been married to Carol since March 7, 1965. They have two children, Marlene, and Larry. In 1971, they purchased a house in Palatine where they lived until moving to Oswego in 2001. Paul and Carol, since 1992, have been on 47 cruises, covering most of the globe, except for the very distant, or cold, destinations.
In December 2015, Paul began having problems with the plate in his head, when the plate came loose. It was replaced, but not before weeks, without a plate, to treat an infection. Since then, he has not encountered any serious complications and is considered 80% disabled by the Veterans Administration.