A native of Central City, Nebraska, Jerry enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a “2x6”er in February of 1969. He reported to Treasure Island, San Francisco in February of 1970 and after several months of training in Panama City, Florida and SERE school at Long Beach, California he was assigned to the Inshore Undersea Warfare Group 2 based at Nha Be, Republic of Vietnam in June of 1970. He was assigned to an LCM 6, which was outfitted with special experimental sonar. After an initial orientation that craft was moved to and operated at Sea Float/Solid Anchor in Nam Cam in the very Southern tip of the Cam Mau peninsula until November of 1970. During this time, the crew experienced a close brush with a sapper attack which sank three PCFs tied hard by and soon thereafter the accidental death of the newly assigned boat captain, STG1 Freddie Tapper. The project went belly up in late fall and the men, all short-timers except Jerry, were sent to the Naval Support Facility at Cam Rahn Bay. Jerry ran into an old Nebraska Wesleyan University acquaintance who arranged Jerry’s assignment to the Public Affairs Office at the NSF, CRB. SN Lippincott became the base photographer and edited the hometown newsletter. Jerry returned to Nebraska after an early out in May of 1971 and returned to construction work. He met Janet Van Winkle, a Bryan Nursing School student from Silver Creek who, as an eighth grader, remembered him meeting her at the Merrick County Fair in 1965. For revenge she married him even after he requested April 1st as a wedding date in 1973. After finally earning a BA in Geology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1982, Jerry returned to active duty in Keflavik, Iceland for three excellent years. He had been promoted to Quartermaster First Class. Besides serving as the Chief of Security Force patrols, he drove the Morale, Welfare & Recreation Department’s tour bus, a 28 passenger Mercedes-Benz, taught Earth Science college classes on the Navy Campus for City Colleges of Chicago and Los Angeles Metropolitan Colleges and earned a Master of Arts in Management from Webster University of St. Louis, Missouri in 1985. Jerry was initiated as a Chief Petty Officer in Lincoln, Nebraska in September of 1985. He became a “plank owner” of Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 114 at Kansas City, Missouri when it was commissioned in 1988. After his civilian I&NS job relocated him to the Washington, D.C. area, he affiliated with the Ft. McHenry MIUWU #210, at Baltimore, Maryland for three years. He was privileged to serve as duty manager at the Navy Memorial Foundation’s visitor center while living in Washington. In December of 1995, as Operations Chief of Special Warfare Unit 8 at Miami, Florida, Jerry finished up his Navy Reserve career with 26 years, 11 months. As a Department of Justice I&NS Officer, he conducted hearings and adjudicated Refugee and Asylum applications. Jerry and Janet have four children: Laura, Jocelyn, Logan, and Vanessa.
