Colonel William D. Garner, Ph.D.
Bill Garner was born in High Point, North Carolina, November 19, 1933.
His growing love of airplanes came to fruition during World War II when, at the tender age of ten, he discovered the joy of building model airplanes – precisely to the kits’ specifications. They didn’t fly but sure looked great and actually resembled the pictures on the boxes in which they came. His dream of flying became a reality soon after his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and commissioning as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
His exceptional flying ability was realized early when he graduated with distinction as first in his Undergraduate Pilot Training class of 69 graduates. Following assignments as jet flight instructor, F-100 fighter pilot, and Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies at the University of Georgia, he entered combat.
Flying the F-4 Phantom II jet, during a 13-month tour. He amassed 241 combat missions over North Vietnam and Laos, most at night, for which he was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses (two of which were for valor), two Bronze Stars, fifteen Air Medals and numerous other combat distinctions.
Upon retirement from the Air Force after 26 years, and for the next 10 years, he was director of clinical and patient affairs for the Ambulatory Care Center of the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
His third career, of 25 years, was in his own real estate brokerage, specializing in property management, renovations and investing.
He is now retired and lives with his wife, Evelyn, by the Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C.
These are reflections of his journey from small-town boy to the “tip of the spear” of the greatest Air Force in the world and other life opportunities he pursued.