A Patriots Service is Never Finished

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Cliffton Dolezal
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  At 76 years old, Jim Elmer is a veteran who continues to proudly serve his country. For a career that almost never was, Elmer would see more than 800 combat hours. These days Elmer spends his time passing along his love of country to future generations.

"I never thought I would make the Air Force a career," said Elmer, a retired Air Force colonel.

Elmer's Air Force career began in 1956. He was encouraged by friends and family to attend college at the University of Illinois in Champagne, Illinois. While enrolled, Elmer joined the university's Reserve Officer Training Course to commission as an officer in the Air Force.

"If I'm going to go to college, I might as well join ROTC," said Elmer with an honest smirk on his face. "I always thought that I owed my country something."

After graduation, Elmer went to Texas for navigation training and eventually to California where he was assigned to McClellan Air Force Base. With his first enlistment coming to an end, he decided to have a difficult conversation with his wife.

"Ruth and I looked at each other and said, 'this is a good life, it's something we believe in, something worthwhile and we're having an awful lot of fun doing it,'" said Elmer. "So right then and there we decided that we were going to make this a career. And we never questioned that, even when things got tough."

With conflict brewing in Vietnam, Elmer knew it was only a matter of time until his name was called to do his countries bidding. He decided to put his fate into his own hands and volunteered to go to Southeast Asia. Elmer conducted dozens of missions in Vietnam and was eventually awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with ten oak leaf clusters and various Vietnamese awards including the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and Palm.

"We hauled agent orange and many types of weapons and ammo, constantly rearming our guys on the ground," said Elmer. "It was really hard to see the cargo compartment filled with bodybags, that's when you realize there's an actual war going on. You lose sight of that sometimes when you're flying continuously." Elmer then took a minute to regain his thoughts.

After several tours in Vietnam, Elmer was given a unique opportunity at St. Louis University, where he commanded their ROTC program. However, the assignment was cut short due to the ongoing war in Vietnam. When it seemed he was vulnerable for another deployment, Elmer once again stepped up to the plate and volunteered.

"I said to my commander, 'I know you're going to take me, so I'll just volunteer,'" said Elmer.

So he and his wife moved to Japan, where he would rack up more combat hours in his C-130.

"It was difficult being gone all the time from my wife," said Elmer. "We developed a pact. We would never contact each other while I was gone. Never. Because if we had called, we would start to wonder why they hadn't called in a while, and the worst thoughts possible start to run through your head, and we never broke that rule."

Later in his career and after Elmer's second stint in Japan they were moved to Little Rock AFB, where he was the base commander from 1979 through 1980.

"People would ask me 'why Little Rock?' and I would say, 'I wanted Little Rock'," said Elmer.

After his short service at Little Rock AFB, he went to California again, where he was appointed as the commander of aerospace visual service. He commanded the Airmen who followed the return of the Hanoi Hilton prisoners of war from Vietnam, who were tortured, starved and brutally beaten daily while captured in North Vietnam.

"Seeing those guys step off the plane and embrace their families, for some of them, the first time in years, was the most patriotic thing I've ever seen," said Elmer. "That was the most memorable moment of my career."

He then moved back to Little Rock to ride out his career.

While serving at Little Rock, Elmer learned about the state's flag education program and knew that he had to be a part of it.

"It's patriotic; that's my whole life," said Elmer with a proud smile on his face.

The program stated that every fifth grader in the state of Arkansas would receive flag education, but when he looked deeper into the program, he was startled at what he found.

"So I said who's doing this because I want to be a part of something like this, and I started checking and there wasn't anybody doing it," said Elmer.

At that very moment, Elmer decided that he was going to take over the program in his area. After creating a curriculum, Elmer was ready for his first class. Fittingly enough he decided that the first class he was going to teach was right here at Arnold Drive Elementary on Little Rock AFB. After that he started moving south, teaching Sherwood, North Little Rock and eventually Little Rock.

"This teacher called me from Little Rock and said, 'hey we heard about this program and we want in,' and I said no one's doing it out there, and she said 'no'. I said well that's ridiculous," said Elmer.

After a year, Elmer was teaching flag education at more than 70 schools in Arkansas.
"I knew I needed help so I started recruiting people," said Elmer. "Now we have more than 15 volunteers and visit more than 90 schools, and you would be surprised at who is teaching these kids. We have a federal judge, a two-star general, fire fighters, cops and any patriot that wants to help is more than welcome."

While in Vietnam, Elmer said he didn't see the U.S. flag flying that many times, but when he did, he cried.

"Many soldiers gave their lives for the right to fly this flag," he told children of Bigelow Elementary School during a class.

Elmer has been running the Arkansas flag program for 25 years, and doesn't see himself stopping any time soon.

"You can't leave a classroom without feeling good about yourself," said Elmer grinning from ear to ear. "When you ask a question, all the kids hands go up, they don't know the answer, but they go up and they try."

Teachers from other classrooms creep in to hear him speak in his service dress, often leaving with knowledge of the flag they never knew existed, once again accomplishing his mission.

"Those people out there on the front lines volunteering are not out there for the money or the glory, they are out there because it's something they believe in, it's something I believe in," said Elmer.