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After leaving Bainbridge in 1955, I continued on
to Vance AFB in Enid, OK where we trained in B-25s. I was there
for two and a half months and then was moved to Reese AFB in Lubbock, TX.
We were moved to Reese because the cadet program at Vance was closed since there were only seven or eight cadets in
our class. We were placed with the 56N class to complete our training and we graduated on May 12,
1956. I was married to my wife, Vadie, upon graduation and was
sent to Randolph for four-engine transition then to West Palm Beach, FL
for C-97 transition. From there, I was assigned to KC-97s at Smoky
Hill AFB, KS later to be named Schilling AFB. There I had many choice
TDYs, such as Thule, Sondrestrom, Greenland,
Goose Bay Labrador, Cold Lake and Edmonton Canada, Eielson and Elmendorf
Alaska, and Eniwetok in the Pacific. When I was promoted to First Lt I
received my own crew, and shortly after I was made an instructor.
I attended IP school at Randolph and then to IPIS in Waco.
In 1962, I was sent to KC-135 training and then to the 919th ARS at Turner AFB in Albany, GA.
We had some TDYs in Spain which were different from the arctic. In 1966, the squadron was sent to South East Asia, we operated out of Kadena
to CCK in Taiwan,
Clark, Takli, and Guam. We spent most of our time in Thailand
refueling the Thuds. In 1967, I was promoted to major and received a
regular commission. Within that same year, Turner was being closed and
we were moved to McCoy in Orlando. In1968, we were again sent to SEA
and continued refueling fighters; however, we did more B-52 refueling.
In December of that year, I was offered an assignment in SAC Combat
Evaluation. We arrived in January and spent four and a half years at Barksdale AFB
in Bossier City, LA.
I came out in the LC list in late 1972. I also received an OV-10
assignment to NKP. I went to sea survival at Homestead then to Hurlbert
for OV-10 school. The peace treaty was signed in 1973, my assignment
was cancelled, and I was reassigned as operations officer at McConnell AFB in the KC-135R program.
I have three daughters and at the time one, Kay, was in college, and
two, Bridget and Paula, in high school. We had planned to retire when I
returned from SEA. At the time, there was a two-year commitment after
promotion. The family and I wanted to stay in Bossier City
so I put in for retirement and did not take the promotion.
The family
and I have had a building and development business, Spearman Homes,
Inc., and have been very successful. I have been an active member of
the Homebuilder’s Association and was the Shreveport-Bossier President
in 1979 for the organization along with being a state and national director. I am now
semi-retired and enjoy fishing, travel, and spending time with my
family. I enjoyed my Air Force career and have continued to enjoy the
years that have followed.
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