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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