Michael Emmert speaks with Senior Airman Austin Wylie, recipient of the USO’s Janice K. Emmert Volunteer of the Year Award, at the USO on Yokota Air Base, Japan, Feb. 25, 2026. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Michael Emmert, husband of the late Janice Emmert and steward of her USO legacy, traveled to Japan this week to personally honor one of the organization’s top volunteers.
Michael Emmert appeared at Yokota on Wednesday to congratulate Senior Airman Austin Wylie, who was named the overseas USO Volunteer of the Year for 2025. The award bears the name of Emmert’s late wife, a longtime USO leader and advocate for military communities.
Scott Maskery, vice president for the USO in the Indo-Pacific, presented Wylie with the Janice K. Emmert Volunteer of the Year Award during a ceremony at the Yokota USO.
Wylie shares the honor with Army Sgt. 1st Class Loretta Streichert of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., the stateside recipient and an operations sergeant and instructor at the Army Military Police School.
Michael Emmert, now a senior managing director at the Chicago-based consulting firm Ankura, said Wylie reflects the determination that defined his wife’s service.
“They are leaders — they do not understand the word ‘no’ or that this can’t get done,” Emmert said at the ceremony.
Senior Airman Austin Wylie, center, recipient of the USO’s Janice K. Emmert Volunteer of the Year award, poses with Brig. Gen. John Schutte, deputy commander of 5th Air Force, and Michael Emmert at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Feb. 25, 2026. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
Also attending were 5th Air Force deputy commander Brig. Gen. John Schutte, 374th Airlift Wing commander Col. Richard McElhaney and USO Japan area director Juliet Bucayo-Domingo.
The award “highlights volunteer work, leadership, and community support within the military,” Josie Grenier, USO Yokota’s operations manager, said in a Feb. 19 email.
Wylie said he was humbled by Emmert’s presence, noting that he traveled roughly 18 hours for a visit lasting less than a day to attend the ceremony.
“The award itself is not so much a testimony to me as much as it is to the community that we have been able to build,” he told Stars and Stripes at the event. “You can create a space where [visitors] can connect with people and feel like they belong.”
Janice Emmert devoted decades to the USO, beginning in 1984 when she joined the USO Illinois board of directors, according to her obituary. She later held senior leadership roles and was elected to the USO World Board of Governors in 2003. In 2008, she attended the opening of the organization’s first USO center in Iraq.
She died July 30, 2018, in Chicago at age 61.
Wylie and Streichert were selected from among about 10,000 USO volunteers worldwide in 2025 for their dedication and impact on service members and their families, Grenier said.
Wylie said he has logged more than 1,550 volunteer hours with the organization.
“The USO had a profound impact on my transition into military life, and I have longed for a means to give back in the same way they’ve always supported me,” he said.
