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Senior Airman Michael McCutcheon (left) and 1st Lt. Jonathan Webb, brothers who were separated at birth, meet for the first time at the Kansas City International Airport. Webb, who is a year older than McCutcheon, is assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, while McCutcheon serves at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Francesca Popp

Senior Airman Michael McCutcheon, Separated at Birth, Reunited in Service

By U.S. Air Force Airman Joe Lacdan
509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. (AFPN) — Michael McCutcheon never knew his older brother who was put up for adoption. The 28-year-old senior airman assigned to the 509th Maintenance Squadron here made efforts to find his older sibling, but each year his interest began to fade.

Then recently, as McCutcheon sat with family members at his parents' house in Odessa, Texas, the phone rang.

His father answered. In tears, he handed the phone to McCutcheon.

"Hey brother," said the voice on the phone.

The voice was that of his brother, Jonathan Webb, who was alive and well, living in Utah. To McCutcheon's surprise, his brother also serves in the Air Force and is a first lieutenant stationed at Hill Air Force Base.

"I got a chill up my spine, and I was all excited," McCutcheon said. "I had so many mixed emotions and so many questions because he's my brother and he's full blood."

Growing up in the bustling west Texas town of Lubbock, McCutcheon grew up with dreams of someday finding lost artifacts and civilizations. He set the example for his younger siblings as the oldest remaining son of James and Loretta McCutcheon. But as he approached his teenage years, questions about his older brother loomed.

"My parents spoke little about Jonathan, but never kept it a secret," McCutcheon said. "They didn't know too much about him after he was gone."

His need to find his lost older brother peaked when McCutcheon turned 18. He tried checking the Internet, calling search organizations, and went to the hospital in Amarillo, Texas, where his brother was born.

Years passed, and McCutcheon married in the summer of 1994. He enlisted in the Air Force in October 1997 and received a job as an aircraft metals technologist. Reality began setting in that he may never find his brother.

"Every year it slowly started to get where I would think less about finding him," McCutcheon said. "I would always wonder what he's doing and if he's thinking about me. But then I figured, 'I'm 28 years old now, and I'm sure he's living a good life.' Every year it just got further and further out of my mind."

Meanwhile, Webb was raised in western Colorado and enjoyed computer games and radio-controlled race cars. He said he led a happy life and felt content with his adoptive family which included two sisters. Webb's adoptive parents did not hide the truth about his adoption at birth.

"I certainly never had any resentment (toward my birth parents), because I enjoyed a life filled with great opportunities," he said.

The chance to become an Air Force officer was one of those opportunities.

Webb said his adoptive father served in the Army and strongly encouraged Jonathan to become an Air Force officer. Webb received his commission at the University of Oklahoma in 2000 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology and criminology.

While content with his life, the question of his biological relatives lingered. He began searching for his biological parents at 18, the legal age to begin a search.

Initially he said he searched out of curiosity, then in the summer of 1997 he married Oklahoma-native Sarah Barrington. The birth of the couple's first child, Brittany, changed his outlook and desire to find his birth parents.

"I got a greater sense in the back of my mind for genetic heritage," Jonathan said.

Webb's initial attempts to locate his parents led to dead ends. Then he contacted the lawyer who arranged his adoption and discovered his mother's maiden name was Moore.

Webb tracked his parent's marriage date with his mother's name and with that information, he acquired his birth parent's phone number through an Internet search engine.

He dialed the number and the voice of an older man answered. Webb asked the man if he had been married in December 1973.

The man said, "Yes," and asked Webb if his birth date was Aug. 23,1973.

Webb said, "Yes."

"Looks like you finally found us," said Webb's biological father.

After a week of endless telephone calls to his new-found brother, McCutcheon and his wife, Susan, and his grandparents waited at the Kansas City International Airport for the brother he never knew.

McCutcheon's wife said earlier that day her husband jumped around the family's house "giddy as a school girl." At 6 p.m., Michael would meet the brother he never knew.

McCutcheon learned he had a niece and a sister-in-law. Webb not only found his biological parents, but learned he had three younger brothers, Michael, Bill (who passed away in a vehicle accident) and Shawn.

"It's him!" McCutcheon said as he turned to the gate.

McCutcheon and Webb locked in a long embrace. Three decades of curiosity and doubt seemed to fade.

"(Meeting Michael for the first time was) amazing," Webb said. "I had all this curiosity about the past 30 years. I think it's interesting and a profound opportunity because we started at the same point in our lives (their birthplace, Amarillo). We can both go back and see what the other path would have been. How many people get to do that?"

103 posted on 01/27/2003 4:17 PM EST by Kathy in Alaska (God Bless the USA and our Military who protect us all)