Terry L. Burkert and his four sisters were raised Rossville, Illinois. Rossville has a population of 1,500 residents. It is one of those villages that you would call a one-light, or a one-horse town. Terry joined the Air Force in December of 1969 and attended Tech school only 35 minutes from his home. After Tech school Terry was stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines and then went to CCK Taiwan Air Base, while there he was sent on TDY to Ton Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. Upon returning to the States, he was stationed at Reichard Gebauer Air Force Base, Missouri, then finally transferred to Wright Patterson Air Force Base for the completion of enlistment. Post service, Terry stayed in Fairborn where he found employment at Wright Patterson working as a pneudraulic repairman. He worked as a civil service for approximately 30 years and then retired, and then worked as a contractor on base for another 15 years.
Terry is very involved in the Fairborn community. He served as a Fairborn City Councilman for 4 years. A 6-year member of the Mayor’s Beautification Committee. He has worked as volunteer at Greene Memorial Hospital. He is a blood donor with over 24 gallons of donations to date. Terry has worked on the Fairborn Military Veterans Memorial Committee. He removes snow is his local neighborhood. He has participated in the Big Brothers and Sister program. Volunteers for Christmas in Action which repairs the homes for low-income senior citizens. Terry serves a member of the Fairborn Downtown Betterment Committee.
Terry has three dates that are very important to him. First is October 20, 1973, the date he married to his beautiful wife for almost 51 years. The second was in May of 2018 when he participated in Honor to Flight to Washington D.C. and the third is today.