JACK CAMP
Veteran for November 2008
Othell Camp, known to friends and family as "Jack," was born in Merkel, Texas, on March 24, 1924, to Fountain Edwin and Ruth Camp. Jack lived in Merkel with his parents and his older brother, Eudell Camp, until at the age of eleven, Jack went to live with his aunt and uncle, Edna and Rufus Burton, on a farm in Anson, Texas. Jack attended school in Anson where he played half-back on the Anson football team.
In 1943, at the age of 19, Jack joined the Navy and was sent to San Diego to attend Medic School. After completing his medic training he was transferred to the Marines and was shipped to Guadalcanal for additional training. On Sunday morning, July 21, 1944, after 51 days at sea, Jack arrived for the invasion of Guam at 0800 hours. While on Guam Jack was giving medical assistance to wounded Marines on Chonito Ridge when he was hit in the knee by mortar shell fragments. He was awarded a Purple Heart for these wounds.
After the island of Guam had been secured Jack and his unit were shipped to Iwo Jima arriving on February 18, 1945. Following the Battle of Iwo Jima, Jack had returned to Guam to prepare for the invasion of the mainland of Japan, when President Harry Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which prompted the surrender of Japan and the end of the war. About one month later Jack returned home aboard the USS St. Louis arriving in San Francisco in October of 1945. He had been awarded the World War II Victory Medal, American Theater Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal, Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation.
After his discharge from the Marines, Jack returned to Anson for two months before he left again and enlisted in the Air Force. Jack was sent to Champagne, Illinois where he attended Parachute Rigger School. In 1946 Jack married Doris Fillingsworth and they started their family of two children, Linda and Michael. Jack was transferred to Bollingfield Air Base in Washington, D.C., and then to Camp Filmer in New Jersey. Upon the disintegration of his marriage to Doris Jack volunteered for overseas duty in England for the Berlin Air-lift, where he stayed for three years. In 1949 Jack was sent to Walker AFB in Roswell, New Mexico. He was discharged from the Air Force in 1954 having served in three branches of the military: Navy, Marines and Air Force.
In 1953 Jack had married Wynona Robinson from Rosewll. Wynona had two children from a previous marriage, Gary Allen and Janet Gail, who were raised by Jack as his own children, along with Jack and Wynona's two boys, Ronald and Christopher. Jack and Wynona were married for 47 years until her death in 2000.
In 2001 Jack married Jo Isaacks, also from Roswell. In 2003 Jack and Jo moved to Wichita Falls, Texas where they currently reside. When Jack and Jo aren't traveling and enjoying their Timeshare, Jack keeps busy with gardening and chores around the house. He is also an avid fan of PRCA Rodeos and PBR Bull Riding. Jack has ten grandchildren: Trevor, Tasha, Bridget, Joshua, Christopher, Kenneth, Chrissie, Ronnie Jack and Kyla as well as four great-grandchildren: Britney, Ramon, Jr., Andrea and Garrett.
