Lt. Col. Michael F. Moffitt served at the base, then volunteered there after retirement. Air Force officials dedicated the Visitors Center in his name.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published May 7, 2004
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE - In many ways and to many people, Lt. Col. Michael F. Moffitt epitomized MacDill Air Force Base.
He spent much of his military career at the base, starting in 1940 when he was a private in the Army Air Corps. When he retired 25 years later, he returned to the base as a volunteer at the Visitors Center, where he logged more than 8,000 hours.
Two years ago, Air Force officials dedicated the building in his name.
"For two years, he was the only living person to have a building named after him, at MacDill, and maybe in the entire Air Force," said his son, Michael Moffitt Jr.
Col. Moffitt died April 24 of congestive heart failure. He was 85 and had been in declining health for several years.
"A lot of history died with Mike," said Judy Hall, a longtime friend, neighbor and civilian co-worker at the base. "He could tell you stories for hours about his military career and about MacDill. He was on the tarmac when Gen. Tinker (the first commander at MacDill) landed his plane here. He'll be missed. I miss him already."
Over the years, Col. Moffitt was often the first person people met when they came to MacDill. He was known for his comprehensive knowledge of the base, and even people who had spent many years at MacDill were amazed at how much he knew about the buildings, the little-known tunnels linking many of the buildings and the history of the brick sidewalks.
Col. Moffitt was a war hero who flew 122 combat missions in World War II and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. Three presidents - George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton - cited Col. Moffitt for his dedication to his country and the Air Force. Clinton said he "exemplified the love of country and devotion to duty for which our Armed Forces have always been known."
As a young man in Carbondale, Pa., Michael Moffitt was inspired by a recruitment poster that showed a soldier standing next to an airplane engine. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed at MacDill, where he trained as an airplane mechanic.
"One of the first things he did was to stand next to an airplane engine, the same pose he had seen in that poster, and have his picture taken," his son said.
One day, he and a buddy met a couple of young ladies at the Woolworth store in downtown Tampa. They went to a dance on a double date but, somewhere along the line, Pvt. Moffitt decided he preferred his buddy's date, Reba Wallace.
They spent the rest of their lives together until Reba Wallace Moffitt died in 2002.
When the United States got involved in World War II, the young soldier was accepted into flight school. He became a pilot and received his commission as a colonel in 1943, just a few months before he and Reba were married.
He served in New Guinea for most of the war, flying for more than 200 hours in combat missions in the South Pacific. He re-enlisted in 1947 and was stationed at bases around the world, including a stint as a base commander in England. His son, Michael, was born in 1948 at Fort Dix, N.J., and his daughter, Cheryl, a few years later in Spokane, Wash.
He retired in 1964. Within a week, he suffered a heart attack and had to give up his pilot's license. He was 46.
The family returned to Tampa, Mrs. Moffitt's hometown. Col. Moffitt trained and worked as a draftsman for several years then became a dispatcher for Coca-Cola until retiring in the early 1970s.
Col. Moffitt was a quintessential military man who went out of his way to be kind, friends said. He loved people, and it wasn't unusual for him to remember MacDill acquaintances he had not seen for 60 years.
"He was just a wonderful guy," Michael Moffitt Jr. said. "He was my hero. I grew up with a hero."
