Air Base was central to military
operations and the place where
freed hostages, injured soldiers
from war zones and more were
taken before making their way
home to the U.S., the mission
came full circle for Kahn, the
son of a Holocaust survivor.
“My father was liberated
from Buchenwald concentra-
tion camp by Patton’s 3rd Army
on April 18, 1945,
” he said.
“Having lost his parents and
most of the rest of his family in
the Holocaust, he applied for
and eventually received permis-
sion to immigrate to the United
States in 1947.
”
Kahn’s father, who arrived
in the U.S. with just the clothes
on his back, learned English,
pursued an education, became
a doctor and started a family in
Los Angeles. Later, he accepted a
job working as an internal med-
icine physician at a U.S. Army
base in West Germany at the
tail end of the Cold War, where
Kahn was eventually born.
“The irony was not lost
on me,
” he explains. “These
Afghan evacuees have the same
path ahead of them. Some may
come from wealthy lives; others
don’t. Some may speak English
already; others don’t. Some may
already have an education, oth-
ers don’t.
“But all are starting over in a
new country.
”
MITZVAHS AND
GIVING BACK
Despite the antisemitism and
horrors that Kahn’s father expe-
rienced during World War II,
his father was always grateful
for the opportunity to build a
new life in the United States.
“He knew that he was safe
and secure on a national level,
”
Kahn says. “This was the coun-
try that accepted and protected
him and treated him as an
equal.
”
Now, the pilot can only wish
for Afghan refugees to experi-
ence the same feeling.
“I’m proud of my crew and
others like them for providing
what I hope is one of a series of
welcoming gestures in the path
to a new life,
” Kahn says.
For Kahn, these missions
are central to Jewish iden-
tity as well. He believes in a
moral obligation to welcome
guests, save people from ter-
ror and preserve human life.
“Our Afghani partners will
face certain death if left in
Afghanistan,
” the pilot explains.
While this flight was Kahn’s
first in evacuating refugees, he
isn’t hesitating to take on simi-
lar missions in the near future.
“I will certainly volunteer
again,
” he says.
“But I will have a lot of com-
petition. Many of our pilots are
excited to be able to partici-
pate.
”
SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 19
DELTA
Touching down in the U.S.
Supported through the generosity of The Jewish Fund and the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Family Foundation.
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