Retired AF Col. to Speak at Sheriff’s 9-11 Remembrance Ceremony
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Thomas Hickerson led his Lockheed Martin team into the burning Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001 to restore and maintain critical communications following the terrorists’ attacks.
He earned the Nova award, Lockheed Martin’s highest award for his leadership on 9-11 and the following days.
Hickerson will describe the response inside the Pentagon during his speech at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office’s annual 9-11 Remembrance Ceremony.
The event will begin at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 11 at the Sheriff’s Office at 940 New Salem Highway in Murfreesboro.
Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh invites residents to attend and remember the victims and first responders who died that day and the military who lost their lives in responding to the terrorists’ attacks.
Hickerson served 30 years in the Air Force in command, control, communications and computers. He led space communications after the Challenger accident.
His leadership spanned the Engineering Center, Major Command, Air Staff, International Joint Coalition and Theater Commander and Chief.
He moved to Tennessee in 2002 where he worked as Executive Director of Operations for the state of Tennessee.
Hickerson lives in Smyrna where is chairman of the Town of Smyrna Beer Board and a Planning Commission member.
He is vice president of the Stones River Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and a board member of the Tennessee Fisher House Foundation.
