Yelm’s Frontline Workers Get High-Flying Salute From JBLM 62nd Airlift Wing

Soaring at low altitudes, two Boeing C-17 Globemaster cargo planes passed overhead the Yelm Family Medicine Plaza on Friday as about 100 or so health care workers, first responders and residents watched in awe and appreciation.

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Soaring at low altitudes, two Boeing C-17 Globemaster cargo planes passed overhead the Yelm Family Medicine Plaza on Friday as about 100 or so health care workers, first responders and residents watched in awe and appreciation.

The flyover salute put on by Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 62nd Airlift Wing was part of a larger regional flyover, which took place from 12:30 p.m to 2:44 p.m. in an effort to salute the Americans working daily on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The duo of cargo planes flew over more than 30 health care facilities in the region, spanning as far north as Oak Harbor and as far south as Elma. The team’s pass over Yelm was one of the final stops before flying over Madigan Army Medical Center and landing back at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Brenda Longmire, office manager at Yelm Family Medicine, said her staff was very appreciative of the heart-warming tribute.

She said her staff had been “very excited about this for the last couple days when they found out,” and added that a number of her workers that have been working from home came in specifically for the occasion.



“We appreciate our heroes thinking of us,” she said.

In addition to the many health care workers outside who wore medical masks with cellphones in hand to record the display, responders from the Yelm Police Department, Thurston Medic One, and the Southeast Thurston Fire Authority also stopped by to witness the spectacle and show support.

In the leadup to the flyover, which took place promptly at 2:23 p.m., SETFA firefighters angled their engine’s hose in an upward fashion, opening is up and spraying water roughly 50 feet up into the air.

Yelm Mayor JW Foster, who reached out to the Airlift Wing earlier in the week requesting that Yelm be added to the route, said he was excited about the flyover and detailed his appreciation shortly after in a message.

“I’m just appreciative of the 62nd Airlift Wing airmen and their leadership in creating this awesome flying tribute to our medical teams on the ground. #WeGotThisYelm,” Foster wrote.