Retired Air Force Colonel and World War II veteran John Raymond Campbell died on October 7, 2022 at home in Tucson, Arizona at age 98. During his short illness, his three loving daughters – Mary Kathryn Mazzola of Greensboro, North Carolina, Risa Campbell of Longmont, Colorado, and Severin Campbell of Berkeley, California – were with him for most of the time. John lived an admirable life of importance to country and family. His beloved wife of 69 years, Grace Miller Campbell, predeceased him in 2015 at age 90.
Born to humble beginnings in Perry, Missouri on August 26, 1924 to the late Spencer Ray Campbell and Vishie Moore Campbell, John grew up on tenant farms in and around Perry as one of ten children. To help his family survive during the Great Depression, John left school at age 13 for a year to work with his father in a coal mine. A 1939 Farm Security Administration loan stabilized the family’s financial situation, allowing his parents to buy an 80-acre farm. Always a good student, John graduated as his high school’s valedictorian in 1943. That same month he hitched a ride on a milk truck to St. Louis to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps and serve his country in the Second World War.
Following training as a navigator on a B-24 bomber, John went to the European Theater in September 1944. Based in Lecce, Italy, he served on 33 combat missions with the 98th Bomb Group of the 15th Air Force. Just 20 years old, he was selected to serve as lead navigator for the formation on several of these missions, including Vienna which was protected by 2200 flak guns.
In 1946, John met Grace Miller, an Oklahoma native, in Sacramento, California, and they married that same year. They started their family in 1947 and had three daughters, whom Grace took the lead in raising during John’s many deployments. John adored Grace and nicknamed her “doll,” and she admirably served as an officer’s wife and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the world with John.
For the first few years after the war, John was a member of Air Transport Command transport crews, flying routes to Asia and Europe. From 1948-49 he participated in the Berlin Airlift, which delivered coal and food to Berlin after the Soviets cut off access. In 1950, John was on the crew that delivered the records of the Nazi War Crime Trials from Nuremberg to the World Court in the Hague. In December of that year, during the Korean War, he flew into combat conditions once again, participating in the evacuation of the beachhead at Hungnam. John’s Air Force career continued with key roles during the Cold War. In 1952 he joined the 303rd Bomb Group of Strategic Air Command (SAC) as Observer, where he was responsible for being able to arm a nuclear warhead. The three-man B 47 Stratojet crew he served on was awarded best bomber crew in SAC in 1953. With the development of cruise missiles John served on an Atlas Missile Crew. During the 1963 Cuban Missile Crisis, he was manning a silo under a cornfield in the Midwest, awaiting orders that thankfully never came. Later he participated in launch test operations for Titan and Minuteman Missiles. John was stationed twice at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1960s, graduating from Air War College and Air Command and Staff College. John served as the base commander at Karmursel Air Force Base, Turkey from 1969-70, and later he served as the Commander of Hof Air station, a US Air Force Security Service facility on what was then the border of West Germany, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Next, he was stationed at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio as the head of the Air Force Cryptologic Depot. For final posting in Germany, John served as deputy commander of Security Services in Europe at Ramstein AFB, where he was responsible for overseeing a group of American bases stretching from England to Turkey. John retired from the Air Force in 1975 and completed the college degree he had long been working toward in the military at Park College in Kansas City.
The Campbells then lived in San Antonio for over a decade. John ran the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and later served as director of development for Air Force Village. Continuing his education, he earned a Masters in History from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1981. During these Texas years, John and Grace were active grandparents to their four grandchildren. Three grandchildren grew up nearby in San Antonio and Austin, while one was raised in San Francisco, California.
In 1987, after their Texas grandchildren graduated from high school, John and Grace retired and moved to Tucson, Arizona, fulfilling their longtime goal to return to the golden years of when John was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in the 1950s. Many good years followed with friends, travel, and visits from family. John detailed his life and career in a multi-volume set of his memoirs, chronicling how he had studied by an oil lamp in a home without electricity his entire childhood, while just over a decade later he was trained to arm a nuclear weapon. John took weekly hikes in the saguaro cactus-filled Sabino Canyon Recreation Area into his mid-90s, and he lovingly took care of Grace up until her death. His military-style values and personal resolve allowed him to continue to drive, exercise, and enjoy visits and restaurant dinners with family and friends until just a few weeks before his death. He was well-known for his peanut brittle that he made for many years and sent out during the holidays.
John was proud of his family, and his family is proud of him. John’s military decorations include the Air Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit. He is survived by his three daughters, four grandchildren – Doug Keyser (Deborah) of Cedar Park TX, Pamela Sowers (Sean) of Folsom, CA; Patrick McIntyre (Ellen) of Nashville, TN, and Julie Moss (Drew) of Oakland, CA – seven great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren. His sisters Betty Campbell Baker, Sue Campbell Boots, and Helen Campbell Dugan also survive him. The family will hold a memorial service at a later date.
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