As an eighth-grader, Master Sergeant (retired) Willard E. Jones remembers spotting the unique blues, silver and white of Air Force One as it dipped into the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It was November 22, 1963 and President John F. Kennedy was on board the SAM (Special Air Mission) 2600, primed for a brief stop, one leg away from his fatal visit to Dallas.

Jones had often gazed at the planes over the airport where his father worked. He told his classmates, who laughed in response, that he would one day fly on Air Force One. As it turned out, Jones did fly Air Force One countless times during 22 ½ years as a U.S. Air Force communications specialist with the Presidential Airlift Group, a part of the Air Mobility’s Command 89th Airlift Wing, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Contrary to what many of us believe, Air Force One is not one plane, but a designation for any Air Force aircraft transporting a President of the United States at a given time. The color scheme on the 707 jet, used by President Kennedy, was chosen by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Communications specialists, in a special authority presidential position, support the Joint Chiefs of Staff, homeland security and communications at the top levels of our government by maintaining constant communication through radio, audiovisual and numerous other technologies. They also decipher cryptographs and codes and are charged with reacting to emergencies and being prepared to fly the president, non-stop and at a moment’s notice, to any destination in the world.

What was flying on Force One like? Jones describes an atmosphere of alertness and intensity, with crew members handling multiple tasks onboard. Passengers included members of Congress, senators and cabinet members, as well as then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, President George H.W. Bush, Chief of Staff John Sunnunu, General Colin Powell, and First Ladies Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan. He remembers all of these national figures well.

“Barbara Bush loves children,” Jones said. “She always made a point of meeting them and shaking their hands. I also remember that she sat on the plane with her personal photographer and her press secretary, Anna Perez. There was always laughter among this group and the telling of jokes.”

George H.W. Bush unfailingly showed friendliness to the in-flight staff, Jones recalled. “He was personable; he made people feel that they were important. He was respectful to everyone.”

Jones can picture Colin Powell, yellow legal pads at hand, constantly working. “I never saw him sleep.” One time, Jones noticed that Powell had left a pad-full of notes on the plane. He rushed to tell the secret service personnel. But Powell replied that he did not need the notes; he had all the material memorized.

Some of the missions Jones flew contain classified information, and Jones cannot talk about them. However, he did describe one trip to the outback of Australia, where everyone, including President George H.W. Bush, contracted an illness, likely food-borne, from a meal made of exotic birds. Fortunately, previous experience had taught Jones to avoid unusual dishes from out-of-the way places, and he stayed well on this occasion.

Jones chose the Air Force when he was drafted after graduating as an honor roll student from Fort Worth’s Isaac M. Terrell High School and beginning college. He took aptitude tests and received the highest possible score on all of them. Then, he took further tests as part of a minority recruitment initiative and excelled in communications. Following an exhaustive review of his own background and that of his family, going back to his grandparents, he received top security clearance. In preparation for his first position on a command and control squad out of Omaha, Nebraska, he took courses in cryptology and coding, classes in which no one was permitted to take notes.

It was on flights taking Vice President Dan Quayle to visit his son at Lehigh University that Jones discovered the Lehigh Valley. “I liked the normalcy and peacefulness of life here,” Jones said. The area presented a contrast to the hectic Beltway, where Jones and his wife had been raising two children, and the family moved to Bethlehem in 1992.

A thirty-seven-year veteran of the Air Force, Jones now teaches aerospace science at Dieruff High School in Allentown as part of the Junior Air Force ROTC program. He beams when he talks about the young people he has mentored and seen go on to colleges, including NCC, and careers in the military. Two of his alumni are majors in the Air Force.

“Inner city kids have ability, and with guidance and given a chance, they can achieve their dreams,” says Jones. “There is genius in every kid.”

Jones loves working with youth and has volunteered with Big Brothers, a facility for battered children, an orphanage in Korea, and other organizations. The experiences have shown him that one person can make a difference, and his enthusiasm for inspiring the young led him to enroll in the special education degree program at NCC. As a teacher of children with special needs, he will soon lift off on another journey in his long career.

What are the keys to his own and others’ success? “If you can dream it, you can do it, with persistence and hard work,” Jones says.