John Glenn to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. He died at the age of 95 in 2016. John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, the son of John Herschel Glenn Sr., who worked for a plumbing firm, and Clara Teresa , a teacher. His parents had married shortly before his father, a member of the American Expeditionary Force, left for the Western Front during World War I. The family moved to New Concord, Ohio, soon after his birth, and his father started his
Gary Glenn coalition, which launched the successful effort to enact similar legislation in that state. In 2015, the National Right to Work Committee named Glenn the recipient of its highest honor, the Senator Everett M. Dirksen Award, for a lifetime of achievement and commitment to the principle of individual freedom in the workplace. Glenn enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves during the Persian Gulf War buildup in 1990 and served eight years in the Reserves and Army National Guard, including with the 1460th Transportation Company headquartered in Midland. He was named Honor Graduate of both Basic Combat Training at Ft. Sill, Ok.,