Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum

Episode: Wings of Honor: Stories from the Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum

Veterans, Aircraft, and Purpose at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum

We weren’t supposed to be anywhere near Colorado. This episode was meant to be filmed in Las Vegas, and instead we ended up seven hundred miles away in Pueblo, standing inside one of the largest aviation museums in the region. But sometimes the best parts of these trips aren’t the ones you plan, they’re the moments you stumble into. And inside the Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum, surrounded by 85,000 square feet of living history, we met two Air Force Veterans whose stories say a lot about service, identity, and what it means to keep moving forward long after the uniform comes off.

“Treat people how you would want to be treated.”

That’s the first thing 30-year Air Force Veteran Mike Sumida tells us. He’s the kind of leader people remember long after they’ve transferred out, calm, grounded, and very aware of what real responsibility looks like.

Mike shares a moment from deployment that stuck with him for decades. He was walking through a walled compound and saw a young airman wearing a T-shirt that said, “Up Yours. Seven Up.” Instead of embarrassing her or pulling rank, he just said, “Great shirt… but some first sergeant out there won’t think it’s funny. Flip it inside out so you don’t have to deal with that.”

Simple. Human. Respectful.

And exactly the kind of leadership Veterans instantly recognize as real.

Service and Sacrifice: “If I don’t die, I might sacrifice my health… or my mental health.”

Mike tells a story he shares every time he meets a Vietnam Veteran. Most people forget that the entire leadership team during Desert Storm, generals, colonels, squadron commanders, senior enlisted, came from the Vietnam generation. As he says:

“How many of the generals in Desert Storm were Vietnam vets? All of them.”

He explains how those same Veterans brought respect back to the military. They stayed in after the war, even when public opinion was low. They held the line, trained the next generation, and rebuilt an institution that had been shaken.

And then he talks about the personal cost of all that service.

“What I would do for you? I would die for you. And if I don’t die, I might lose an arm, or a leg… or my mental health. Some days, the battle is not becoming one of the twenty Veterans who take their life.”

Hearing that in a hangar surrounded by aircraft, machines built for life-or-death missions, hits differently.

Life Inside and After Service: “Combat motivates people in ways that surprise you.”

Mike walks us through his career:

Air Force Special Operations.

Navigating through mountains in the dk.

Participating in the Iranian hostage rescue attempt.

Losing eight teammates in a tragic aircraft collision on the ground.

“There were hundreds of Americans willing to die for those hostages,” he says. “And eight did. They were worth it.”

He talks about leading maintenance crews on aging KC-135s during combat operations. The aircraft were built in the 1950s, but his team managed to keep them at 100 percent mission capable for weeks, something even Central Command couldn’t believe.

“When it comes to combat, people get motivated,” he says with a quiet smile. “And maybe treating people with dignity helped too.”

A Museum Kept Alive by Veterans

After that conversation, fellow Air Force Veteran Wayne took us deeper into the museum, and deeper into the real heartbeat of the place.

The PWAM isn’t just an aviation museum. It’s a gathering point for Veterans who still want to serve. They restore aircraft, give tours, run community programs, and keep the history alive for the next generation. Many of them, including Wayne, retired decades ago but still find meaning in showing up every day.

Wayne shows us the F-15 that scored the first MiG kill of Desert Storm. He shows us an F-16 he once flew in as a reward for standout work. He explains how the museum’s A-10 Warthog had to be taken apart in Dayton, Ohio, driven across three trucks, and reassembled piece by piece in Pueblo, thanks to local businesses and individual supporters.

“People stepped up,” he says. “They wanted this here.”

Ghost Tours and Unexpected Healing

Wayne casually mentions something he didn’t get to explain during the tour: the museum’s paranormal activity. The restoration crew started noticing things late at night, unexplained shadows, noises, and figures moving through hangars.

Instead of keeping it hidden, they turned it into a safe, community-driven experience. Not sensationalized. Not cheap entertainment. Just another way the museum brings people together to share stories and feel connected.

Many Veterans find comfort in those Saturday night tours. Standing in the dark between aircraft that once carried warriors into danger has a way of making people feel seen, especially those still carrying things they’ve never talked about.

When Veterans talk about “finding their people,” this is what they mean.

Finding Purpose Again: “I had to be a part of it.”

Wayne retired from the Air Force, moved to Pueblo, and discovered the museum by accident. He walked in as a visitor and walked out with a new mission.

“There’s so much to see here,” he tells us. “So much to learn. So many stories worth preserving. I had to be a part of it.”

That’s the part of Veteran life people don’t always see. Purpose doesn’t disappear, it shifts. And places like this museum let Veterans step into new roles where their experience still matters, where their history still teaches, and where their presence still builds community.

Why Stories Like Mike and Wayne’s Matter

This episode goes far beyond historical aircraft. It shows what life after service really looks like:

• navigating identity after the military

• rebuilding structure and connection

• honoring generations of Veterans whose stories shaped modern service

• rediscovering purpose in unexpected places

• carrying invisible weight with humor and honesty

• finding stability through community and shared work

• creating spaces where Veterans feel useful, seen, and heard

For Veterans watching, these stories offer something familiar: proof that the parts of life that feel lost can return in new forms.

For civilians, they offer understanding: service doesn’t end at discharge, and neither do the challenges, or the strengths, Veterans carry with them.

Final Message

Mike and Wayne are not defined solely by the missions they flew or the conflicts they lived through. Their stories reflect something deeper: resilience, identity, and the ongoing work of rebuilding purpose in a world that moves on quickly.

The Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum isn’t just a collection of aircraft. It’s a living community, a place where Veterans teach, learn, reconnect, and remind one another that their experiences still matter.

This is why Vegas Veteran Voices tells these stories.

Not to glorify the past, but to illuminate the present.

Not to entertain, but to connect.

And not to sensationalize, but to show the truth: healing often begins with people who understand you, even when you meet them seven hundred miles off course.

Episode description

We were supposed to be filming somewhere in Vegas… but somehow ended up 700 miles away in Pueblo, Colorado. Call it a wrong turn, call it divine intervention, but it landed us at one of the most incredible places we’ve ever filmed the Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum.

Inside 85,000 square feet of history, surrounded by jets, bombers, and even a freshly added A-10 Warthog, Brenton and Ronnie meet two Air Force Veterans who prove that service doesn’t end when the uniform comes off. Mike Sumida, a 30-year Air Force Veteran and Lockheed Martin alum, shares powerful stories about the connection between Vietnam and Desert Storm, and how leadership is built through respect and example. Wayne, another Air Force Veteran and volunteer, gives us a peek behind the hangar doors, talking about the cost (and chaos) of moving an A-10 across the country, the museum’s ghost tours, and the pride that keeps this all-Veteran crew going.

What started as a wrong turn (ask Ronnie about the Wearwolf) became one of the most meaningful stops of the trip, a reminder that purpose, service, and community sometimes find you when you’re not even looking.

ABOUT THE PUEBLO WEISBROD AVIATION MUSEUM:
Located at Pueblo Memorial Airport, the Pueblo Weisbrod Aviation Museum is the largest aviation museum in Colorado and one of the most extensive collections of military aircraft in the region. With over 85,000 square feet of exhibits covering World War I through modern day, the museum showcases aircraft like the F-16 Fighting Falcon, B-52 Stratofortress, and A-10 Warthog.

Run almost entirely by volunteer Veterans, the museum honors service through restoration, storytelling, and education. Visitors can explore the Hall of Heroes, view interactive displays, and even join the popular Saturday night paranormal tours. More than just a museum, it’s a living tribute to generations of airmen whose stories continue to inspire.

Learn more:
www.pwam.org

In their words

“I love the opportunity to tell a couple of the stories that were near and dear to my heart.”