Jerry R. Durham Jr. was a Rockport native that spent most of his young childhood in the area of the Green River, Lewis Creek, Jackson Slough and Jackson Hill. By this time, the road builders had build a road over the top of that hill and playing youngsters would never again be seen playing and looking for Indian Artifacts. Jackson Slough had been poisoned by runoff from the mines and Lewis Creek was polluted years earlier by the same method. The water of the Green River was being contaminated and it would soon be placed on a list where swimming was discouraged. The large earth-moving equipment of Peabody Coal Company had torn up some lands that would probably never be reclaimed. But still, it was Rockport and home and we still had a school building.

Jerry Jr. started to school in the first grade at Rockport, the last of August in 1967. He was the third generation to have gone to school at Rockport. The next day, the students no longer had a place to go to school as it burned on September 1, 1967. A sad day for Rockport and another end of an era. This lovely old town would never be the same. So sad. Now, all of the students were being bused to Centertown and Beaver Dam. In the not-to-distant future, there would only be one high school for the entire county and the powers-to-be are working on plans for only one elementary school. Busing to a larger school seems to be the "Norm" of the times.

Jerry joined the Army in May of 1983 and had intentions of making the Army a career. In 1999, he received a medical discharge, under honorable conditions, due to bad knees. The injured knees were service connected and operations on both knees did not repair them sufficient for his Army career to continue. He received a partial retirement pension and a scholarship to the school of his choice. He was stationed in Colorado Springs when discharged and thus, decided to make Colorado Springs his home. He finished his education at Colorado State University in Denver.

Jerry Jr. married Stacy Starns and the two of them traveled and lived in many parts of the world. He had two tours of duty in Germany, one at Fort Campbell, one in Kuwait and Iraq, during the first war with Iraq, and his last tour of duty at Colorado Springs. Army bases in South Carolina and Georgia were training bases that were a part of his military history. Stacy died from Pulmonary Hypertension in 2003 and Jerry Jr. decided to continue living in Colorado Springs.

Prior to the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Jerry Jr. was stationed at Fort Campbell with the 101'st Air Assault Squadron. His career specialty was "Computer Systems", but if you were a member of the 101'st, you jumped out of planes with the rest of the squadron or you practiced landings from the Apache and Cobra helicopters when the other squadron members were on assignment. This assault from the air is one of the reasons for a lot of soldiers developing bad knees. After a training trip to Fort Benning, the 101'st was sent to Kuwait to map out plans for the invasion of Iraq. When the war started, the 101'st made their battle plans from Kuwait and Soldiers and machines headed North and to the West of Iraq and came into Iraq from the North. Good battle plans and the Iraqi Army retreated from Kuwait. When the Iraqi Army retreated, President Bush declared the battle over and he allowed Saddam Hussein to survive to fight another day and another war.

Thanks Jerry, for your service to our country.

See you......
jrd

Stationery by jrd

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