Col. D N Harmon & Elsie Jacobs Harmon

He graduated from U of I, 1941, Commissioned 2nd Lt. U.S. Army Cavalry, Active Duty, 2nd Armored Division, 6/26/1941, Gulf Coast Flight Training 11/10/1942. U. S. Army Air Corps, Combat Fighter Pilot, ET 365th, 82 Combat missions. Air Attache’, U.S. Embassy Cairo Egypt, Combat Bomber Pilot, 13 missions Korea, Commander, 522nd Fighter Squadron & 327th Fighter Wing Bergstrom AFB TX, Operations Training Officer, American Military Assistance Staff, U.S. Embassy Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Commander 366th Fighter-Bomber Wing England, AFB LA, Director of War Plans, Tactical Air Command, Langley AFB,VA, NATO , Southern Command, Izmir, Turkey, Operations Plans Operations Commander jet Pilot Training Wing, Williams AFB, AZ, USAF Southern Command, Panama, Vice Commander 24th S.O.W., Howard AFB, Panama, Retired 2/28/1970. Military Decorations: Legion of Merit; 2DFCs, 16 Air Medals, Air Force Commendation; & Theater and Service recognition awards, French Legion of Honor medal. Recorder of Ansar Temple-15 yrs. Sponsored over 100 families- Shriners’ Hospitals in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Galveston and Boston.

A private memorial service will be held at a later date.

Suggested recipients of memorial contributions are; Shriners’ Hospital for Children, United Methodist Church of New Palestine, Illinois.

Elsie Jacobs Harmon, mother & homemaker, 9/6/1920 – 12/29/13 is survived by four children, ten grandchildren and one great grandchild. Elsie attended Woodside School, Ball HS, and graduated from U of I in 1942. She taught at Divernon while her husband was at war. She then became an Air Force spouse and created homes for her family wherever the Air Force sent them. Her sense of adventure and warm loving nature made travel an education for her children. She served as Red Cross volunteer in many countries. She taught middle school science in Springfield in 1965 when her husband was sent to Panama where she later joined him. She returned to Springfield to care for her parents and to be near her extended family when her husband retired from active duty. Elsie taught young mothers who were not allowed to attend high school, and volunteered for: Springfield Orchid Society, Memorial Gardens, and Vachel Lindsey House gardens. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 18, 2014 at 2 pm at Bisch and Son Funeral Home, 505 E. Allen, Springfield. Suggested memorial contributions are the Alzheimer’s Assoc. & Red Cross. Please visit the online “Life Remembered Story” at www.bischandsonfuneralhome.com where tributes and condolences may be left for the family.