Page 57 - DFCS NEWS MAGAZINE 2020-1

ROBERT G. CERTAIN
The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to
Captain Robert G. Certain for heroism while participating in aerial flight as a B-52 Navigator near
Hanoi, North Vietnam on 18 December 1972. On that date, while engaged in one of the largest
conventional bombing raids ever amassed in the recent history of aerial warfare, Captain Certain's
aircraft received significant battle damage as the result of extremely heavy surface-to-air missile and
antiaircraft artillery fire. Captain Certain and his crew were in quest of massed supplies,
communications equipment and transportation lines in order to eliminate the aggressor's capacity to
initiate an offensive. The outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty displayed by Captain Certain reflect great
credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
Col. Robert G. Certain, USAF (Ret), Chaplain, earned his bachelor's degree from Emory University and was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force. After flying B-52s for four years, including two tours in SEA and three months as a POW, he earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the School of Theology at the University of the South. He continued in the Air Force as a chaplain, including 22 years in the reserves. His reserve duty included attendance at the Air War College and assignments as the senior protestant IMA chaplain at headquarters of the Strategic Air Command, the Air Mobility Command, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He officiated the funeral services for President Gerald Ford in 2007. He has served on the DoD Defense Health Board and medical ethics committee, the Task Force for the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces, and the VA Advisory Committee on Former POWs. He retired from parish ministry in 2012 and served
as the executive director of the Military Chaplains Association until 2015. He was president of the Atlanta Chapter of Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) before moving to San Antonio in 2017.
Chaplain (Col.) Robert G. Certain, USAF, (Ret.)
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