My father, James W. Warner, joined the U.S. Navy on Oct. 26, 1911. In 1916 he was 2nd Class Quartermaster, and dropped his rate to go into the new field of radio. By 1919 he was one of the first chief radiomen in the Navy.

In March 1928 he retired from active duty. He was then recruited by Chas. Kingsford Smith to fly to Australia. They made the first crossing of the Pacific by air in a Fokker Tri-Motor. And his constant radio communication was the first successful use of radio on a long-distance flight.

He was called back into the Navy in 1940, and I was born in December 1941 in Washington, D.C. He spent the rest of World War II teaching radio at College Station, Texas. My half-brother, Ralph C. Holton, joined the Army in 1943 and was wounded on Okinawa, and then spent almost two years in Letterman Hospital.

My half-brother Donald P. Holton joined the Army in 1947 and fought in Korea. He retired in 1967.

I was in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1964-1969 and left as AMS2.

So our family has quite a history of service.