James Williamson enlisted in the U.S. Army on his seventeenth birthday in 1962. Before he turned eighteen, he was already in Korea, serving as a medic near the DMZ. By 1966, he had applied for Officer Candidate School and went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to learn about artillery and surveying. He then went to flight school in Fort Walters, Texas, and Fort Rucker, Alabama, to learn how to fly TH-55 Osage and Huey helicopters. After training, he had his first tour in Vietnam and was assigned to the 1 st Cavalry Division near the Central Islands in An-Khe, Vietnam, as a Huey helicopter pilot. He returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1970. Mr. Williamson left the Army in 1972, continued to serve in the Army National Guard for an additional eight years, and retired as a Major. He later became an insurance agent and a mortgage and property manager.
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