![NAS Whiting Fieild staff and Mount Pilgrim African Missionary Baptist Church members Jan. 12 attend Whiting Field's first Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service. [AARON LITTLE | Press Gazette]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-62e7d790-fe3d-3240-e053-0100007f2f6c-130e608c-scaled.jpeg)
MILTON — Naval Air Station Whiting Field on Jan. 12 held its first Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative Service. Base and Training Air Wing Five staff as well as members of Mount Pilgrim African Missionary Baptist Church attended.
Whiting staff Chaplain Lt. Roy Fondren Jr., who organized the event, said, "August of 2017 is when it began to resonate. I saw healthy fellowship among aviators of all races." The way the flight students and staff of all ethnicities get along fulfilled some of King’s vision, according to Fondren. "We had that," he said. "We really had that … Diversity is where King’s work manifested."
The event featured guest speaker Jamie Smith, pastor of Mount Pilgrim African Missionary Baptist Church; Tracy Johnson singing the national anthem; and items from The Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Foundation and Museum, Inc., which its CEO Jawana Jackson brought to the base.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: NAS Whiting Field holds first MLK event