HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Meet Todd Mitchell, an electronics technician with the 582nd Missile Maintenance Squadron for the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Todd served nine years on active duty. He spent some time at Patrick Air Force Base working with the Space Shuttle program and was on the recovery team when the Space Shuttle Challenger accident occurred in 1986. In 2015, Todd began working for the Ogden Air Logistics Complex.
Todd grew up in Utah and spent his childhood in Bountiful and joined the Air Force in 1983. As a young Airman, Todd played a pivotal part in creating an emergency landing pad system for the Air Force, used for an IFE (In Flight Emergency). His ingenuity, creativity, and quick thinking took the feat of an emergency landing gear malfunction from a 45-minute process down to seven minutes. This adaptation was later adopted by the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Todd’s ability to find efficient and effective ways of accomplishing a job has followed him throughout his career. He invented a new kind of ratchet wrench, based off a sprag-clutch inspired by a main gearbox input clutch from helicopters he worked on in the military. In addition to these accomplishments, he holds four patents for the invention.
Todd’s innovative spirit was catapulted into high gear back in September of 1993, when he took a trip with his wife to France. On their trip, they went to Paris to visit the grave site of Jim Morrison, the lead singer for The Doors. Todd never considered himself a “super fan”, but he related to Jim in enough ways that he was interested in visiting the 110-acre cemetery. When Todd and his wife arrived at Jim Morrison’s gravesite, he was disappointed to learn that the bust of Jim Morrison that had once resided at the gravesite had been stolen, and a whole new headstone resided where it once stood. For an instant the thought ran through his head “Wouldn’t that be cool to replace the bust.” Todd knew he had the knowhow to right this injustice.
“People think about things like this all the time, but they never really do anything about it,” Todd remarked while talking about his motivation to replace the stone likeness. Todd’s motto in life is “Anything worth doing is worth doing right.” With this being his life slogan, he made several attempts to contact the authorities who cared for the cemetery, asking permission to replace the bust, but nobody would give him the time of day. He felt motivated that something had to be done, so he began hatching a plan to replace it.
Over the next few months, Todd had a bust of Jim Morisson’s likeness made of bronze and began planning a return trip to restore what had been lost. He contacted an artist he knew that connected him to a sculptor. Providing the sculptor with as many likenesses of Jim Morrison as he could, Todd waited patiently for the bust to be completed. While he waited, Todd did preparation on his own. He experimented on different types of attachment methods with different epoxies and a hammer drill. When he was sure he had the suitable attachment method, and all the proper supplies, he loaded everything up into his suitcase, which weighed approximately 75 pounds, and left for Paris with his nephew, Danny, in tow. His plan was to right the wrong by replacing the missing bust before the 23rd anniversary of Mr. Morrison’s death on 3 July. Todd transported the bust in his carry-on; in an old ski-boot bag he called “The Jim bag”.
When they arrived in Paris, Todd and his nephew Danny walked around the cemetery for three days looking for a place to hide near Jim Morrison’s grave site or find an area that they could sneak into the cemetery after closing hours. They were surprised to find out that due to an incident which occurred a few months prior to Todd and Danny’s arrival, guards had been permanently stationed at Jim Morrison’s grave during the daytime hours. In addition to the guard’s presence, he now wanted to see what other pitfalls they would have to avoid, in order to carry out their mission.
They spent the next couple of days scouting the cemetery. They realized there were motion sensors on the walls with razor wire along the top of the wall that surrounded the cemetery’s perimeter. Climbing over the wall would not be an option. Their next option was to find a place to hide until the bulk of the crowds had cleared out. As they were walking along the cemetery’s cobble stone path, they stopped to admire a mausoleum and discovered the door was ajar due to a rusted off bolt. This proved to be the perfect hiding place, allowing Todd and Danny to hide out in the tomb until the sun went down.
As it became darker, they decided to venture out from their cryptic hiding place. They left part of their supplies in the tomb and took just what they needed. As they walked through the now very dark cemetery, they saw a light that stood near Jim Morrison’s grave. As he neared the grave site, Todd suddenly heard the “click” of what he thought was a motion sensor, he later found that it was a camera shutter. Todd and Danny both froze. Todd then moved again and heard another “click”. He decided to move slower and realized if he moved slowly, it would not set off the motion sensor or cameras.
When they finally reached the grave site, Danny began to mix the epoxy and Todd got to work on the drilling. Todd knew it would be loud, but he was hopeful they could do it quickly and have it attached before the guards returned on their rounds. Todd put the battery on the hammer drill, pulled the trigger and nothing happened. The battery was dead. He quickly replaced the battery, and the drill started right up. Unfortunately, the drilling proved to be much louder than anticipated. The sound of the hammer drill reverberated off the other gravestones and tombs making a terrible racket! Todd thought, “Well, I’m already into it, so I might as well just go for it!” As he was about to drill the fourth and last hole, a guard with a German Shepherd were approaching quickly and shined his flashlight on Todd and Danny and said something in French. Neither of them understood what the guard was saying, so Todd motioned toward the bust with both hands and said, “Jim here” motioning back towards the area where the holes had just been drilled. The guard plopped down on the grave next to Jim’s, and said in admiration, in English, “Beautiful statue.” Todd thought, “Oh, cool! He’s going to let me finish!” Soon another guard showed up with a radio. Both guards spoke to each other briefly then the guard with the radio started talking to someone over the radio. He then turned and said in English, “They don’t think it’s a good idea, they’re afraid it will excite the street people.”
The guards instructed Todd and Danny to gather their supplies and go sit on the curb near the entrance of the cemetery. They were soon picked up by the police and transported to the police station and held for a couple of hours then transported to a jail cell located near where the infamous prison Bastille was once located. After spending the night in the jail cell, a French police inspector and an English interrupter were brought in and began interviewing Todd. After a series of questions, he finally said to Todd, “So, you didn’t write anything or scratch your name on anything anywhere? Todd said “No.” So, you come not to destruct, but to construct?” Todd replied to the inspector, “Oui!”
Todd and Danny were released. They had been arrested but not charged. The French authorities returned all of Todd and Danny’s belongings, aside from a bottle of whisky Todd and Danny had brought in hopes of making a toast at Jim Morrison’s grave site.
Todd and Danny were able to return to the cemetery and pick up the remainder of their supplies left there the night before. They walked back to their hotel and made phone calls to their family about the incredible adventure they had just experienced.
Todd currently lives in Taylor and enjoys spending time with his family camping at a place near Henefer in the Uinta Mountains, and occasionally at Bear Lake. His adventurous story is one that speaks to his passion for righting the wrongs that come across his path. His creativity and tenacity make him a pivotal part of the Missile Maintenance Group and the OO-ALC team!