Saluting Our Service Members: Military Spotlight

By The Major Brent Taylor Foundation

Matt Longshaw

By Ann Park

The 9/11 Project

A 9/11 museum display, community resource fair, and “Touch-a-Truck” exhibit.

Matt

Longshaw enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1983, where he served for six years. After ten years of civilian life, he spent seven years in the Air Force Reserve, and ten more years in the Air National Guard before retiring as a Master Sergeant in 2017. During his military career, Matt served in locations all over the world including two deployments in the Middle East. “They were all extremely glamorous places,” he assures us. His time in the military gave him the opportunity to meet people of many nationalities and personalities. “I learned a lot about working with people.”

Matt served in three different branches of the armed forces. “The military is no different from the rest of society. There is lots of good, and a little bad, but usually the bad gets all the publicity,” Matt says. “But my experience in the military was a positive one.” He was able to participate in several humanitarian service projects. He was part of a group of soldiers that put a new roof on an orphanage in Thailand. “We worked hard to help the local people, and I’m glad we were able to do it.”

It was difficult to be away from family. “The men and women who serve in the military can’t do their job without the support of their families and their community. Whenever I was deployed, I knew my family back home would have the help they needed.”

Matt remembers serving on an aircraft carrier and it being one of the better experiences he had. “We worked a lot during our time on the ship, but there was nothing else to do, so that was all right.” He worked on the flight deck loading missiles onto the fighters. “Safety was always a big concern, and we were very careful.” Their sea voyages sometimes included unexpected encounters. “One time our ship came across a group of Vietnamese refugees on their way to the Philippines, and their barge was sinking. We were able to help get them all safely on board our ship. I remember

September 6th-11th

9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Closed Sundays

Weber County Fair Grounds

1000 N 1200 W Ogden, UT 84404

Free & Open to the Public

To sign up for volunteer opportunities or field trips/group tours

* More details at majorbrenttaylor.com one woman gave birth while all this was going on. I’m glad we were there to help.”

He remembers another adventure when an axle broke on an A6 fighter jet coming in to land and its hook failed to catch. Under the direction of an experienced safety officer, the pilot circled and came around again. The second time they were able to use the barricade to bring the plane to a stop. Here’s a YouTube video of the incident: youtu.be/ct17otlE58k

Now retired from the military, Matt continues to support his family and community. “I love serving my country. I remember a quote from another veteran, when asked why we do what we do, he said, ‘because this country and our people are worth it,’ and I believe they are.”

BY SABRINA LEE

By 1912, the library had amassed 500 books, and by 1920, 1000.

My kids think I’m weird, but there is nothing better than the smell of books, old and new, that hits you like a wall when those electric double doors of the library open. We all remember the story told to us that libraries spread across the nation with the Carnegie free libraries. North Ogden’s Library can be traced back to the 1860s.

Sidney Stevens maintained a library from his store, Stevens Cooperative. He loaned books to the public from 1868 until the building burned down in 1886. In newspaper articles starting in November of 1890, we can see announcements for musical concerts with all proceeds benefiting the North Ogden Public Library.

In 1912, George S. Dean consented to be the chief librarian. As the chief, he was tasked with organizing the library into the same system used in large libraries. George was a local attorney and had gathered a large personal library. He stored his library on the back of the old post office building, and then moved its location to his home. Can you imagine,