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Roland "Rocky" Gannon "passed quietly and peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by family" on Tuesday, June 4, according to his obituary. He was 99 years old.
Gannon was born on a kitchen table in a house without electricity or running water in Palermo, NJ on Sunday, Mar. 8, 1925. He was the youngest of five children.
At 17, Gannon left for Army Air Corps pilot training on the morning of his junior prom in 1943.
"For the next year he took college courses and completed several different aviation schools," his obituary said. "As his high school classmates were graduating, he was a 19-year-old aircraft commander/pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, having never driven a car or gotten a driver’s license. By age 20, he was flying a B-29, with the rank of Flight Officer."
Gannon served for 37 years in the Army Air Corps and the Air Force, flying about 6,000 hours in 34 types of aircraft. He flew as a combat pilot during World War II, Korea, the former Belgian Congo, and 387 missions in Vietnam.
His obituary also said Gannon flew from more than 100 countries and spoke five languages.
"He served 15 years overseas, including two Paris Air Shows and two years at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, with CEAC, the Committee for European Airspace Coordination," the obituary read.
Retiring from the Air Force in 1980, Gannon moved to his wife Roberta Gause's home region of the Pee Dee in South Carolina. According to the state's aviation association, he earned 50 military awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and 10 Air Medals.
In his post-military career, Gannon worked as an international aviation consultant in Washington D.C., focusing on airports and air traffic control worldwide. He then served on several airport boards in the Pee Dee and was executive director of the Florence Regional Airport for more than six years before retiring in 1993.
Gannon was inducted into the Flight Safety Hall of Fame in 1974, the Cyber Operations and Support Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Air Force Communications & Air Traffic Control Association’s Hall of Honor in 2019.
Beyond his passion for aviation, Gannon was also a proud member of the Boy Scouts of America. As an adult, he became the president of the Pee Dee Area Council and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, the highest Boy Scouts honor.
Gannon's visitation will be held at Belk Funeral Home in Darlington, SC, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, and his funeral will be at Florence National Cemetery at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12.
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