Team Kadena welcomes USO tour party for meet and greet

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Peter Reft
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Miss America Betty Cantrell and other celebrities signed autographs and took pictures with Team Kadena members at the Schilling Community Center during the 75th Anniversary United Service Organizations Spring Visit tour March 16.

Airmen and their families took the opportunity to get autographs and take group photos with Cantrell as well as Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis, country music artist Craig Morgan, and Carolina Panthers cornerback Charles Tillman.

"Ever since Tillman walked up to me and my son to take a selfie with us after a football game, I've felt like he was a good person," said Master Sgt. Terrell Owens, 353rd Special Operations Maintenance Squadron aircraft structural maintenance craftsman. "Meeting him again on this USO tour only certified his generous character to me,"

U.S. Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led the tour and made acquaintances with some Airmen.

"It is an absolute honor to lead this tour around the world and join my special celebrity guests in celebrating the USO's 75-year history of standing by our side and taking care of us and our families," said Selva.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to unite various service organizations under one roof prior to America's involvement in World War II in 1941. That organization became the USO, a congressionally chartered volunteer program which provides support such as entertainment and travel support for U.S. military installations around the globe.

USO staff and thousands of volunteers operate more than 160 centers worldwide.