27 April 2008
Interview with Jimmy Haddle
A few days ago I sat down with Jimmy Haddle, a friend of Jerry Hunter during high school and later at The Citadel and currently runs Haddle Insurance, talking about Jerry’s life before entering the Air Force. Here I learned a few new events in Jerry’s life and the how his loss affected the Douglasville community.
Jimmy talked about how Jerry was a good kid growing up and hanging out with friends like Grady Baggett Jr. and Corky Cheek. All the guys used to play tennis together at City Park (now known as Robert G. Hunter Memorial Park) on the two tennis courts near the pool. Jimmy was not as close as a friend like Grady, but he remembered how well of a person Jerry was.
Both young men attended The Citadel, however Jimmy was one year ahead of Jerry. They could not socialize due to them being in different year classes and battalions. However in Jimmy’s sophomore year he purchased a 1959 Ford Fairlane, which allowed both guys to ride up to The Citadel and back on breaks from Douglasville. But even then Jimmy and Jerry did not talk much.
After Jerry had graduated from UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) from Nellis AFB and came home to Douglasville, he already knew that his next assignment was in Takhli, Thailand where an F-105 wing was present. By then Jerry had been married to Laura Ann Milby for close to a year.
Jimmy recalled a going-away party for Jerry and Laura a few days before Jerry had to leave. Another friend, Christi Mailey, was hosting the party in Marietta at the time in the Spring on 1966. Everybody was giving Jerry a hard time about his choice of career being a fighter pilot.
“We were kidding Jerry about being shot down and we were about half drunk at the time. Everybody was laughing about it and he was too. But of course when it happened, we all felt like rats,” Jimmy Haddle said.
By that time Jimmy had already retired from the Army, serving as a commander of an rocker artillery unit in Korea. Now his friend was leaving for war in Southeast Asia, remembering that “Jerry was very pleased that he had become a fighter pilot and had no qualms about going to Vietnam at all.”
Afterwards Jimmy did not stay in touch with Jerry while overseas. It wasn’t until the announcement that Jerry had gone Missing In Action and later was declared deceased that the small town of Douglasville beginning to cope with the loss.
On July 22, 1966, 1Lt. Robert Gerald Hunter was buried in the Douglasville Cemetery under a clear summer sky. Flags from the Honor Guard waved gallantly as the service pressed on. The American flag was folded with precision and presented to Laura Ann. Then came the roar of four fighters on the deck and returned in the missing man formation - now there were only three.
“I had been to a military funeral before and most people in Douglasville had not. It tell you what, that was by far the most dramatic thing anyone had ever seen,” Jimmy recalled. Jerry’s best friend, Grady, was in tears by the spectacle. The Vietnam War had come close to home for everyone.
Tags: grady baggett, hunter park, interview, jerry hunter, jimmy haddle
