John W. "Jack" Oliver, Jr. Usaf (Ret)

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Funeral services for John W. “Jack” Oliver Jr, Colonel USAF (Ret) 99, of Belton, will be held 10:00 AM, Tuesday, December 12, 2023, at Dossman Funeral Home Chapel.   Burial will follow at the Mary Allen Oliver Community Cemetery.

The family will receive friends for visitation on Monday, December 11, from 5:00pm- 7:00pm at Dossman Funeral Home.

Mr. Oliver died November 28, 2023 in a Texas State Veterans Home in Temple.

Jack was the son of an Army Commander, Col.(Ret) John W. Oliver Sr.: Co. I 143 rd Infantry, 36 th Infantry Division, Texas National Guard and WWI and WWII veteran. Jack was raised on a 192 acre farm four miles east of Belton, Texas. He attended Belton High School graduating in the class of 1942. He attended Texas A&M in 1942, serving in the Corps of Cadets. In November, 1942 he enlisted in the US Army as a Private in the Infantry. Soon he was chosen for aviation cadet training in the Army Air Corps.  In 1943 he attended Bombardier – Navigator training in San Angelo, TX. On October 23, 1943 he graduated, received his wings, as well as a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Jack was assigned to a B-24 Bomber crew in November, 1943 at Alamagordo, NM. The crew was transferred to Charleston, SC to complete combat training out of Charleston and Cuba. Soon the crew was sent to McGuire Field, NY to pick up a new B-24 and departed for San Pangrazio, Italy by way of Belem, Brazil; Dakar, Senegal; and Benghazi, Libya.

Jack flew 53 missions as a bombardier and often as a navigator over Europe and the Balkans. He was pulled for his first five missions to fly as a navigator because that crew had lost their navigator in combat. He flew six missions over the Ploesti Oil fields. He flew fifty-three missions over Europe and many over Germany, Austria and northern Italy. The ferocity of the fighting for his bomb group was grave. In Italy the bomb group had four squadrons with a total of forty-eight aircraft and forty-eight ten-man crews. In six months that Jack flew his missions, the bomb group lost at least forty-eight planes and five hundred air crewmen. After being wounded on his fifty-third mission, he was transferred back to the States. He received two purple hearts for his service wounds.

Upon Jack’s return to the States, as a First Lieutenant, he taught Celestial-Navigation at San Marcos Field, TX and Ellington Field, TX. He set up a ground school for the new B-12 bomber at Davis- Monthan, AZ. Soon the B-12 was replaced by the B-29. Jack was transferred to Air Force Public Information School at Maxwell Field, AL. Upon completion of the school, he was sent to Amarillo, TX. He served as a Public Relations Officer for the opening of the airbase and training of 30,000 airmen.

In 1947 Jack was tenured with a regular Army commission. In November 1947 he enrolled in Army Air Corps pilot training, completing pilot training in 1948.  Jack is one of a few men to be triple rated as bombardier, navigator, and pilot!  Upon graduation from pilot training, he transferred to the newly formed Air Force.  Soon he was one of ten pilots selected for advanced training to fly jets. He continued to fly as a pilot until he completed his thirty years of service. He flew Fighters, P-51/P-80, T-33 jets, Bombers, B-29, and Transports, C-47.

After WWII his primary duties included ten years as a Personnel and Administrative Officer, including three years during the Korean conflict, where he flew a C-47 “Gooney bird” while defending the Panama Canal Zone and South America. His focus changed with the advent of satellites. He served eight years as a Communications and Electronics Officer in the US Satellite and Space Programs. He was a Master Satellite Controller, Satellite Test Director, and Space and Satellite Officer. He commanded Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station in Hawaii. He was promoted to full Colonel as Chief of Staff for plans and operations for Space and Missiles Headquarters. He ended his military service at Fort Monmouth NJ, as Chief of the Defense Communications Agencies, East Coast Field Office. He was responsible for the procurement of a dozen 120-million-dollar satellite antennas. During his time in Space and Missiles he was called upon to serve with the CIA as Projects Coordination and Frequency Interference Coordinator for nuclear bomb air drops over Christmas Island and nuclear missile launches over Johnson Island and other locations.

Retirement from military service did not mean retirement from service to his country. Within five years of retiring from the Air Force, Jack was asked to run for and was elected to Bell County Commissioner’s Court. His precinct included Fort Hood, and the south and western parts of Bell County. He served as a Bell County Commissioner for twelve years.

Jack believed that one must give back to community. He served on the Ft Hood Retiree Council, the Retired Officers’ Association, Military Officers’ Association, and Advisory Board to the Commanding General, Fort Hood III Corps. He served as President and was on Board of Directors for the Killeen and Salado Lions clubs, Killeen Exchange club, Officer in Daedalians and Quiet Birdmen, and member of the American Legion, VFW, and DAV. He also continued to fly, purchasing a plane, he flew for another 25 years. The FAA awarded Jack the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award for over 50 years of flying with a valid FAA license.

He was a Scottish Rite Mason, Eastern Star, and Shriner. In honor of his multiple patriot ancestors, he belonged to the SAR and SCV. As a United Methodist he was a Sunday School Teacher and member of local church boards and committees.

Jack was married to Miriam Garrick for 74 years until her death in 2018. They had three children, eight grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.