Spokane Has Plans For Hometown Hero

Capt. Scott O’Grady will talk to Air Force survival instructors, meet city leaders and be reunited with old friends later this week in Spokane.

O’Grady, the Spokane native who was rescued last week after being shot down over Bosnia, will return home for two days, Air Force officials said Tuesday.

He tentatively is scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon at Fairchild Air Force Base, where he will hold a brief press conference before talking to instructors at the Survival School.

O’Grady’s discussion with instructors about his experience evading Bosnian Serbs will be closed to the public. But local and national reporters will be allowed to cover his graduation address to a new class of survival instructors on Friday morning.

At 1 p.m. Friday afternoon, O’Grady has been invited to the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce building for a brief ceremony and reception.

Mayor Pro Tem Orville Barnes will read a proclamation declaring Friday as Scott O’Grady Day, and the chamber is asking local residents to fly their flags.

Chamber spokesman Mike Archer said there will be a minimum of speech-making to allow O’Grady as much time as possible to meet people.

Seating inside the building is limited to about 125, and some seats will be reserved for O’Grady’s friends, Archer said. Riverside Avenue between Monroe and Madison streets will be blocked off so that people who aren’t able to get inside the building can greet O’Grady when he arrives.

, DataTimes