COLONEL ELMER FOLLIS

 U. S. Air Force (Ret)

1951 to 1982

“During the Korean Conflict I had the opportunity to meet and brief the President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower. He visited my airplane and talked to me, one on one, for several minutes.”

• Fighter/instructor pilot,
• Studied Business Administration/Management at MSU, Summa Cum Laude
• Despite diminishing most of his ability to hear, fighter planes provided Col. Elmer Follis Jr. a life stocked with purpose, valor and honor.
• As a pilot for the U.S. Air Force, Follis flew 400 combat missions in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
• Many of these missions were flown in his F-100 Super Sabre nicknamed Full House, which he speaks about like an old friend.
• After receiving his discharge from the Marines in 1947, Follis returned home to civilian life in Memphis, where he got a job with Chicago & Southern Airlines to stay close to aviation. He gained flight instruction with benefits from the G.I. Bill and received his private license at the age of 19.
• In 1951, he entered the U.S. Air Force Aviation Cadet Program and received basic training on the T-6 aircraft in Mississippi. He was the first student in his class to solo. He would go on to complete advanced training in the F-51 Mustang in Alabama and received his pilot wings in 1952.
• After receiving jet upgrading and fighter bombing training in the F-80 Shooting Star, Follis reported to Kimpo Air Base in Korea where he flew 100 missions with a tactical reconnaissance squadron.
• Most of his missions consisted of photo reconnaissance in unarmed aircraft deep in enemy territory. Some of the missions were flown along the Manchurian border and required an armed escort due to encounters with enemy MiG fighters.
• In 1957, Follis was assigned to the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing in Okinawa. There, he became certified as a nuclear bomb commander in the F-100 Super Sabre and sat “nuclear alert” with weapons more powerful than those used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 12 years earlier.
• “We were considered American kamikazes,” he said. “These missions were considered to be ‘one-way’ because of the great distances to the target. There was enough fuel to reach the target, deliver the weapon and exit but not to return to base.”
• In 1967, Follis was transferred to Vietnam and assigned to a F-100 squadron as operations officer. There, he flew 300 combat missions.
• The three most common missions he flew were close air support, interdiction and landing zone preparation for friendly helicopters.
• One particular instance, which earned Follis his fifth Distinguished Flying Cross, was during the Battle of Dak To, when friendly forces were in imminent danger of being overrun.
• After Vietnam, Follis was assigned to Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas and named director of operations for the 80th Flying Training Wing.
• He then became director of operations and plans for NATO in Izmir, Turkey.