United States Air Force Capt. Joseph Bledsoe III will be the keynote speaker for the Solanco Class of 2019's graduation on Friday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at the high school football field, 585 Solanco Road, Quarryville. The entire Solanco community is invited.
Bledsoe, 2007 Solanco graduate, was on the 4.0 honor roll all four years and was National Honor Society president and a member of the Varsity Club. He played baseball and basketball, serving as team captain of the latter, and was a drummer in the Solanco band. Bledsoe also acknowledged the support and inspiration he received from counselor Kelly Shumaker and teachers Brett Miller, John Girvin, Steve McTaggart and Chris Rachor. He also credits baseball coach Dave Wimer and basketball coach Don Fisher for teaching him lifelong lessons.
Bledsoe's favorite Solanco memories include winning the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 basketball title in both his junior and senior years and winning districts in baseball his senior season.
At the Air Force Academy, Bledsoe majored in biology and was class president. After graduating from the Air Force Academy in 2011, he married 2007 Solanco graduate Alicia Brower and moved to Maryland, where Bledsoe attended graduate school at the University of Maryland at College Park. He graduated in 2015 with a master's degree in public policy focusing on international security and economics.
In Del Rio, Texas, Bledsoe began pilot training and earned his Air Force Pilot Wings. He was selected to fly the F-15E Strike Eagle, which meant a move to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C.
After his initial training in the Strike Eagle, Bledsoe transitioned to fly the F-15E in the 336th World Famous Rocketeer Fighter Squadron. This assignment ultimately culminated in a deployment from October 2017 to April 2018 to support Operation INHERANT RESOLVE. Bledsoe flew 70 combat missions - 334 combat hours - defending Coalition Forces on the ground and in the air.
The Bledsoes have two young sons, Treyson and Daxton. Bledsoe is the son of Joey and Joni Bledsoe Jr. of Quarryville.
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