Very few people throughout their lives are honored by their peers and called by just one name. Several examples come to mind with celebrities such as "Prince", "Madonna", and "Elvis". So it was with my brother Jim. In his many years of service with the U.S. Army, Jim, a Chief Warrant Officer (WO4) and paratrooper became known to those who served with him simply as "Chief". If someone told you "Chief" wanted to see you, you knew right then that you were about to be bestowed with some honor or that the "wrath of the Chief" was about to come down hard on you because you had somehow managed to screw up his playhouse. His playhouse was the 421st Quartermaster Co.(Light Airdrop Supply), U.S. Army Reserves, Fort Valley, GA. To that great bunch of guys, Jim was simply known as "Chief". His favorite utterance of all time was to stand at attention before the company of paratroopers and yell, at the top of his lungs... "AIRBORNE". And, you had better believe that his yell was answered... in kind... every time. He was one more hell of a man in my eyes and in my heart. His 3rd love in this world was amateur radio only because his family always, but always, came first. His 2nd love was the U.S. Army. Jim was licensed in 1956 as a "Novice" and continued to work with radio until when in 1982, he achieved the pinnacle with the Amateur Extra Class License. Sometimes Jim and I would talk by telephone three, four, or maybe even five times a day and he would always talk about his children and his grandchildren. I'm gonna miss Jim... God, how I'm gonna miss that guy!
