Princeton brothers earn Civil Air Patrol’s most prestigious award

PRINCETON — Two Princeton cadets of the Illinois Valley Civil Air Patrol squadron recently received one of the most prestigious cadet-level awards.

Brothers Mack and Bennett Williams have earned the Brigadier General Billy Mitchell Award, which is presented to cadets who complete the leadership phase of the CAP program.

Only 15% of CAP junior members ascend to this level of the program.

Lt. Joseph Zeman, commander of the Illinois Valley CAP, said, it’s even more commendable that the brothers have earned this award during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when many of the tasks and commitments they had to complete to earn the award had to be done virtually.

Zeman has been commander of the Illinois Valley CAP for the past five years and said this is the first time he’s witnessed area cadets earning the Billy Mitchell Award, he added for two brothers to receive it at the same time is almost unheard of.

“They are extremely motivated young men,” he said. “We have four core values – followership, leadership, commandership and executive – and these two young men epitomize each one. Their integrity, excellence, volunteer service and respect are above and beyond. They just really compliment each other and I think each inspire one another to do better in the program.”

Along with receiving this award, the brothers also earned the promotion to second lieutenant in the program.

The Williams brothers have been members of the Illinois Valley CAP since July 2019.

Mack, who is just finishing his junior year at Princeton High School, said he joined CAP because he liked the activities and opportunities for character development, aerospace education, physical fitness and emergency services.

“After my first glider flight, I knew that I wanted to fly all the time,” he said.

He said earning the Billy Mitchell Award took a lot of commitment, but now he can use the skills he learned to help other cadets.

“Some of the responsibilities I have in the command phase are doing the staff duty analysis, leading drill and administrating PT testing for the cadets,” he said.

Bennett, who is just finishing his freshman year at Princeton High School, joined CAP after hearing his brother talk about his first meeting.

“It sounded fun so I decided to try it for myself. At my first meeting, we had aerospace activities and did physical training. I joined to keep learning more,” he said.

Although he holds the Billy Mitchell Award, Bennett admits there’s still a lot more to learn.

“Getting to this point has developed my leadership and character to be a better person. We have more cadets in the squadron now and I get to help them reach their goals,” he said.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 59,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 73 lives in fiscal year 2021. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 24,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs.

The local cadet squadron meets at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport every Monday at 7 p.m., except holidays. Due to COVID, in-person visits are not permitted at this time. For information about the squadron, call or text Zeman at 815-343-9045.

More about the Billy Mitchell Award

The General Billy Mitchell Award has existed since 1964. This award honors the late Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, aviation pioneer, advocate and staunch supporter of an independent Air Force for America. The award is earned after completing the first eight achievements of the cadet program. In addition, the cadet must pass an arduous 100-question examination testing leadership theory and aerospace topics.

Being such an important milestone in the CAP cadet program, the Mitchell Award is normally presented by a CAP group commander or higher, the wing director of cadet programs, or a state or federal government official. Once the cadet earns the Mitchell Award, they are promoted to the grade of cadet second lieutenant. These cadets, who later enter the CAP’s Senior Member program, are eligible for immediate promotion to CAP second lieutenant at age 21.

Those cadets who receive the Mitchell Award are also eligible for advanced placement in the grade of E-3 (Airman First Class) should they choose to enlist in the U.S. Air Force. They are also eligible for advanced credit in the Air Force ROTC program. Mitchell Award cadets may also apply for a variety of scholarships and CAP special activities.