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Teen introduces Buzz Aldrin at luncheon

Joe Barone said his Air Force JROTC instructor told him he was ‘the best person for the job.’

Lebanon High School senior and Air Force JROTC Squadron Commander Joe Barone (left) introduced U.S. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (center) at the Good Scout Award Luncheon on Feb. 24. Lt. Col. Joseph Roy Bryan, Lebanon's JROTC instructor, also attended the event. Contributed photo

Submitted Lebanon High School senior and Air Force JROTC Squadron Commander Joe Barone (left) introduced U.S. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (center) at the Good Scout Award Luncheon on Feb. 24. Lt. Col. Joseph Roy Bryan, Lebanon's JROTC instructor, also attended the event. Contributed photo

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By Richard Wilson, Staff Writer Updated 11:28 AM Wednesday, March 10, 2010

LEBANON — It’s not everyday you get to introduce a national hero in front of a large crowd.

But 17-year-old Joe Barone took the task in stride when he introduced former U.S. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin to more than a thousand people at the recent Good Scout Award Luncheon, held at the Duke Energy Center on Feb. 24.

Lt. Col. Joseph Roy Bryan, instructor of the Lebanon High School AFJROTC program, was asked to pick a student to do the honors at the event.

“He said I was the best person for the job so I got to go,” said Barone, AFJROTC squadron commander.

Barone gave the crowd some biographical information about Aldrin, who performed the first successful spacewalk in 1966 and received this country’s highest peacetime award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, after returning from the historic Apollo 11 moonwalk in 1969.

Barone, who moved to Lebanon in the eighth grade after growing up in New Jersey and Seattle, said he didn’t get very nervous because he’s used to public speaking. He said he got to shake Aldrin’s hand and got the 80-year-old to sign his 2009 autobiography, “Magnificent Desolation.”

Lebanon High School Principal Sam Ison said the district was proud to have Barone as its ambassador.

“To meet the astronaut who was actually the second person to walk on the moon, that’s a very big honor for a Lebanon student,” Ison said.

Barone plans to go into the Navy ROTC program at the University of Texas. He said he’s had interest in the past about entering the space program, but he plans to pursue a career in medicine.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4542 or rwilson@coxohio.com.

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