HomeMy WebLinkAboutJames K.Presnal, Brazos Valley Heroes~~
By Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
James K. "Jim" Presnal of the Tabor Community
has had a life of service. Service to country, service to
state and community and service to his profession. It all
began where he now resides, the Tabor Community in
Brazos County.
As related by Presnal, "I was born in downtown
Tabor July 27, 1925. My Dad farmed and ranched in
the area but also ran the Tabor Store from 1912 to the
mid 1960's where he also served as the Postmaster.
My Mother's family has been in the area since Austin's
Colony days and was a teacher at Tabor School, which
I attended through grade nine. I then attended Stephen
F. Austin High School in Bryan where I graduated in
1942."
"The war was on before I graduated and just before
I turned eighteen, I volunteered for and was accepted
into the cadet flight program in the Army Air Corps. I
remember after Pearl Harbor thinking that I probably
wouldn't get to help fight because we all thought it
would be over with in six month's time. We had no idea
how well prepared for war that they were or how ill
prepared for were we were."
"After graduation I kept waiting to hear from the
Army. Time dragged on and I finally got a job with Brazos
Valley Cotton Growers Association located on the 4th
floor of the Howell Building in downtown Bryan. I also
worked at General Fire and Hughes Tool before I was
requested to report to active duty in October 1943."
"I was sent to Wichita Falls, Texas for basic and
then the cadet flight program. When I arrived the guy in
charge of my barracks was another Bryan boy, Emmitt
Wallace, whose parents owned Wallace printing. Having
Emmitt there gave me some comfort. I completed basic
but when I started the- cadet flight program, the Army
physically disqualified me because I fainted during a
blood test."
"I was then sent to Buckley Field near Denver for
armament school and then to Las Vegas for gunnery
school. I couldn't figure out why I was physically
disqualified to be a pilot on a plane but not a gunner so
I told the Army that I didn't want to be a gunner. They
took me out of gunnery school and I pulled a lot of KP
until I got orders for overseas."
"We shipped out of Norfolk, Virginia and headed to
Italy. We landed in Naples and I was sent to San Serbo,
Italy where I was assigned as an armorer on the planes
in the 308th Fighter Group of the 5th Air Force. We were
France, Northern France, Rhineland and Balkans '_
campaigns.
"When the war was over our planes didn't fly very
often so there wasn't much for us to do except play
poker. My tent mate and I volunteered for guard duty so
we would have something to do. Before I came home !'
the 5th Air Force held a track meet for all the units in `'
the Fifth. I was representing the 308th in the hundred- ''
yard dash. The problem was that the 'Tuskegee Airmen' :'
were also in the Fifth and most of those guys had been !'
college athletes before entering the service. They pretty '?
much swept all the dashes. If you weren't running in a
distance race you had no chance. The Tuskegee Airmen !':
had earned a very good reputation in the Fifth Air Force
and their track team was just as good."
Presnal finally received orders to head home
arriving back iri Norfolk, Virginia on December 7,1945.
He returned to Ft. Sam Houston and was discharged.
"After I came home I enrolled at A&M in January
1946 under the G.I. Bill, which was the best legislation
that Congress ever passed for servicemen. I graduated
from A&M in January 1949 but while I was at A&M I ran
for and was elected to the Texas Legislature in 1948
as the representative for Brazos and Grimes Counties
and I remained in the Texas Legislature until 1952. My
brother, Bill Presnal, would later serve Brazos County in
the Legislature for several terms. In 1952 I enrolled at
Law School at the University of Texas and graduated in
1955. I practiced legislative and administrative law in
Austin before returning home to the Tabor Community
in 1995. In 2005, I received my fifty year plaque from
the State Bar of Texas and have continued to represent
organizations before the legislature until recently."
"Looking back on my life and career, I always felt
that serving in_ the military was very beneficial to me.
I have always advocated some sort of compulsory
service, military or other type service if you don't choose
to serve in the military. A structured environment for a
young person is beneficial. Serving not only benefits our
country, it benefits those who serve."
"I also hate to see the changes that have taken place
in government and legislative activities. Everything is
now adversarial, complicated and expe{~sive. It's a
shame you can't do things by a verbal agreement
anymore."
Jim Presnal's name is found on the Brazos Valley
Veterans Memorial. If you want to have a name addBd
fo the Veterans Memorial, for more information, to
make a contribution, or if you know a World War 11