Freedom Award recipient Mark Davis looks for ways to serve veterans
When Mark Davis read the email telling him that he won the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Freedom Award, he was thousands of feet above the ground, on his way to a shipyard in Seattle to teach veterans how to inspect nuclear submarines and Navy ship carriers with ultrasound equipment.
“Of course, I couldn’t jump up and down on the airplane,” he said. “It’s just heartwarming.”
Chamber officials today presented Davis with the award at the chamber’s monthly luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.
The Freedom Award, sponsored by Regions Bank, started in 2003 to recognize some of Hoover’s outstanding public servants who have dedicated themselves to the ideals of freedom.
“He’s passionate, compassionate … The things he does for veterans is amazing,” said Hoover Veterans Committee Co-Chairman Paul Pocopanni, who nominated Davis. “He opens one door, goes through and he’s doing something for someone else … He makes it happen.”
Davis has served on the Hoover Veterans Committee for three years and founded Vettes 4 Vets, which raised over $275,000 for Gold and Silver Star families, the Lakeshore Foundation, Three Hots and a Cot and a $100,000 scholarship for veterans at UAB.
Davis also started the University of Ultrasonics to train veterans how to do welding inspections using ultrasound equipment, enabling them to secure steady employment. The American Society for Nondestructive Testing gave him an award for the advancement of military personnel into Nodestructive Testing.
“We really have to reach out to recognize the veterans and recognize what they’ve done for us, give us our freedoms, and somehow figure out a way to help a veteran,” he said. “A lot of the time, it’s just a pat on the back to say thank you for what you’ve done and we’re here to help you.”
Davis enrolled in the Navy during the Vietnam War and served for six years. One Saturday morning about 10 years ago, he was drinking coffee on the couch with his son, watching news from Iraq and Afghanistan. The footage stirred memories of how callously servicemen were treated during that era.
“I didn’t go to Vietnam, bit I have the same brotherhood with the guys that did, and I respect all they did,” he said. “The Vietnam War, we did not respect our veterans. I look back at that and see how bad we treated our veterans. I look at how bad we’re treating our veterans now … I just hope we can do something to make things better for them, somehow, someway.”
As a member of the board at Aldridge Gardens, he has been instrumental in developing and fundraising for the Veterans Memorial Arbor, which is scheduled to open Nov. 7, during Hoover Veterans Week. The garden will feature a special section called Gateway Pentagon Plaza, with the busts of two young men from Hoover who were killed in service.
“When we see a vet, we say, ‘Thank you for your service,’” he said. “Those are words. I want to see actions.”
He challenged the chamber to build a house for a veteran through Habitat for Humanity, mentioning a quadruple-amputee in the area as a potential recipient.
“He [Davis] energizes people,” Pocopanni said. “He tries to help people. I guess that’s his mission in life.”