Oregon Air National Guard Lt. Mark Gibson, of the 123rd Weather Flight, Portland Air National Guard Base, presents Wilsonville Mayor Tim Knapp, with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Patriot Award at the Wilsonville City Hall, May 3. 

Gibson nominated Knapp and the city of Wilsonville for the award, for their support of Gibson’s deployment to Haiti in January 2010, following the devastating earthquake there.  Gibson, who works for the city of Wilsonville as a water quality analyst in his civilian job, spent about 30 days at the Port-au-Prince Airport with three other Airmen from his unit setting up a weather station as part of a joint-force rescue and recovery effort, then participated in the relief and recovery effort themselves.

(Photo courtesy of TSgt Nick Choy, Oregon National Guard Public Affairs)