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Blaine in his WWII flight gear.
His family had a farm and saw mill. As a youngster he walked two miles to a one room school house. He quit school in the ninth grade and went to work in a mine and did some logging. He finally moved to Miami, Florida and got a better paying job driving trucks. He came back home in 1942 and was drafted. WWII was on and Blaine Yelton, like many, was called to serve his country. This was the beginning of his 31 year career which included World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Three wars - one man!
He was sent to Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. It was the largest training base and most diversified in air education. The host unit at Sheppard is the 82nd Training Wing. It was established as Sheppard Field on 300 acres. A Texas cattleman sold the land to the U. S. Army for just one dollar! It officially opened as an Army Air Corps training center on 17 October 1941. This is where Blaine Yelton’s career began. In addition to basic training, it was where aviation mechanics were trained. Blaine trained 16 hour days and finally graduated in September 1942. His training continued at the Boeing Aircraft plant in Seattle, Washington.
The war was on and everything was on the fast track. He continued training and became a flight engineer and then sent to gunnery school. His job was two fold - air mechanic and gunner. He was sent to Tucson, Arizona for assignment on a B-17 plane but all crews were filled up so they assigned him to a B-24 and he had to re-train at a B-24 flight school. He graduated on the B-24 and was sent to the South Pacific and was based there for six months. He flew 55 bombing missions. After this he was sent to New Zealand for R & R. He continued flying on missions and by the end of World War II he had become a Staff Sergeant. He had served six more months in the South Pacific.
His next step was as an Instructor in both flight engineering and gunnery school in Boise, Idaho. It had become obvious that this ninth grade drop out was liked very much by the Air Force and he liked them too. He was flying, repairing and going everywhere. He was sent to Guam and studied bomb sight and auto pilot for one year. It was constant training for Blaine Yelton. When he was stationed in West Palm Beach, Florida he was switched from bombers to cargo planes. He was in Tokyo when the Korean war broke out.
He spent the next two years overhauling the cargo planes, the C-54 and then working for the CIA for two and a half years. He flew all over the world and later was assigned to the Douglas C-124 Globemaster, nicknamed “Old Shakey”. Blaine Yelton was promoted to Master Sergeant, then Senior Master Sergeant and the last seven years of his career, Chief Master Sergeant.
When the Vietnam war emerged (1959 to 1975) he was there serving as Chief of Maintenance. He finally retired in 1971. 31 years and three wars later.
He is married to Louise who is now 88 years old. They have two daughters, Patricia and Nancy. After the service he bought 413 acres in Cane Creek. He dealt in timber and cattle. He said he loved the air force work and bragged that he had even flown over the North Pole “in a C-141 cargo jet”. He drove until he was 95 years and then “they took my license away. I had a perfect record. I’d still like to drive”. Blaine also water skied until he was 90 years old. He says he likes to go hunting once in a while and limits himself to “just one deer a year.” He says “I’m a lucky old man”. His closest call with death was during the Korean war when a 20 mm shell hit the left side of the plane and hit him on the back where he was on the right side of the plane. “That was a close call”. When I asked him if there was anything he’d like to do that he hasn’t done, he quickly replied: “Yes! I’d like to go on a Safari in Africa!”
Blaine Yelton still has a great mind and enjoys the company of his family. He is an amazing example of what has always made this country great. I can’t say enough good things about this good man. Thank you Blaine for all that you have done for our country.
