James B. Randels

Preferred Name: Jim
Date of Birth: October 23, 1918
Highest Military Grade: 0-6 – Colonel

Colonel James B. Randels served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He joined the Army Air Corps right after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In his career he flew over 75 different aircraft amassing 6200 flying hours.

In a 2019 interview with Bryant Clerkley from News 5 WKRG in Florida, he gave some advice for people seeking a career. “”I think you need to pick a career early and follow it. Work towards it,”. When speaking about his flying career he told the reporter “When you’re in an airplane you’re in command. When I was in Korea I spent six weeks in the army, and you’re not neccesarily in command.”

His flying career was not without incident. He had 3 belly landings and one crash landing in Vietnam. He said, “Lesson learned there, if you have to crash land go into a banana patch because I did not get a scratch.”

Colonel Jim Randels retired from the Air Force in 1972.

For his 101st birthday, The Board of County Commissioners of Okaloosa County, FL proclaimed October 23rd, “James B. Randels Day”.

Sources: https://www.wkrg.com/top-stories/100-year-old-okaloosa-county-veteran-gets-special-day-dedicated-to-him/ and https://weartv.com/news/local/oct-23rd-declared-as-james-b-randels-day-for-wwii-veteran.