KING HIGH REMEMBERS:DONALD BOONE

Nathan ThaiBradley Kuwahara

Jason Junio

Early Life/Education

• Born in Los Angeles, California on August 3, 1938.

• Graduated at Chaffey Union High School in Ontario, California in 1956.

• Married in 1960 and has three children• Got Bachelor’s degree at University of Nebraska

in 1974.• Got Masters of Business Administration in 1979.

Air Force Service

• Enlisted USAF (United States Air Force) on August 26, 1956.

• Commissioned on December 21, 1960.• Retired August 31, 1984. (28 years of Service)• Highest Enlisted Rank – Airman First Class (E-4)• Officer Rank – Lieutenant Colonel (O-5)

Assignments During Air Force Services

Technical Training

• From hands-on experience to college credit toward a degree; your career path begins here.

Radar Repair (1956-7)

• install, maintain, and repair fixed or mobile air traffic control, weather, ground aircraft control and warning radar systems, and more.

Radar Technician (1957-59)

• inspect, diagnose, maintain, and operate test setups and equipment to detect malfunctions.

Aviation Cadet (1960)

• a student in military flight training. In some instances they have come from other officer procurement programs while at other times they were stand-alone commissioning and flight training programs.

Advanced Navigation Training (1961)

• This course is a requirement for the Chief Mate/ Master license. It covers the usage of electronic navigational aids, including GPS, Gyrocompass and Autopilots.

Special Weapons Instructor (1961-65)

• Teaches graduate-level instructor courses, which provide the world’s most advanced training in weapons and tactics employment to officers of the combat air forces.

Navigator on B-52G (1965-66)

• Navigators are the B-52 mission controllers. They ensure the aircraft arrives at critical mission events such as air refueling, high and low altitude bombing, and cruise missile launches on time. They also provide inputs to the pilots for both airspeed and direction to these critical events.

Staff Officer (1966-1971)

• To inform the commanding officer of all developments in the field and help draw a complete picture. They also gather facts and provide input based on their experience.

Infra-red sensor operator AC-130E (1972)

• The Infra-red Sensor operator aboard the AC-130E Spectre had the job of searching and identifying any surrounding threats or objectives using the infra-red sightings.

Aircrew Training Programs (1973-77)

• Being a Staff Officer of the Aircrew Training Programs, Lt. Col. Boone had to teach and inform upcoming aircrews the fundamentals of operations and the like.

Headquarter Strategic Air Command (1974-77)

• In charge of America’s land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic missile strategic nuclear arsenal.

Disaster Preparedness (1977-84)

• Disaster preparedness training focuses on teaching how to get out of disastrous situations one would experience on the aircraft or base, and how to solve the solutions with minimal problems.

Civilian Employment

• Assistant Director Braille Institute for the Blind Orange County Center (1985-91)

• Business Manager Pediatric Medical Group in Riverside, CA (1991-2005)

Achievements

• Meritorious Service Medal• Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 oak leaf

clusters• Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters.

Combat:100 missions 1972 – Laos, Cambodia, and

Vietnam

Vietnam

• The battles of Vietnam were numerous, and they involved much of the help from the two ships Lt. Col. Boone had operated on, the B-52 and AC-130E. His help in both of these aircrafts, as well as his training instructions contributed much to the cause of relieving many problems and completing many missions involved in this historical struggle.

Veteran’s Personal Stories

• Lt. Col. Boone had many stories, frightening, tear-producing, and humorous.

• One of his stories was one of recent days, where he and his wife had come to a reunion of his old flight crew and their families. He stated that “There was barely any sleep, because we all had our own little stories that kept us going for hours.” This story showed how tight his crew was, even after the countless years.

• Another story was when he visited the Vietnam Memorial wall and seeing all of the names, he said it really touched him because the names on the wall were ones of those he taught, worked with, and grew old with. It was very touching to us as well and helped us realize how serious war really is.

• One of his more humorous stories began when he asked us why we didn’t ask the typical “high school boy question.” He then told us stories of his jobs on the AC-130, which he said was the highlight of his Air Force career.

• Finally, he asked us one question, “What do you plan to do with your lives in the future?” We all had our respective answers and he explained to us that times have changed and so has serving in the military. It was a very different experience for him back then than today, he says, and he gave us a great mindset for our futures, telling us that serving our community is serving our country, and its what we need the most now.

In the end…

• Conversing with Lt.Col. Boone was a very life-changing experience, for we learned a lot of how life was back then in the military and how it affected his life as an American and how he helped build this country and it’s great history. National History Day was a great learning opportunity academically, but in our opinion it was more of a life long lesson taught by a real American Hero.