James Townsend

James (Tom) Townsend was born June 11, 1943, in Grand Island. He was drafted into the Army in 1964 & was stationed in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for basic training, and then was sent to Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

While there, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, so he was allowed to join the 295th Ordinance Army Reserves to be home to care for her. When called to active duty to go to Vietnam, he was engaged to his wife Alice. They moved up their wedding date by two weeks so they could be married before he left. 

In May 1968 he left for Colorado Springs for combat training and left for Vietnam in October 1968. He was stationed in Chu Lia, Vietnam for one year and returned in October 1969 with a rank of SP5. Upon his return from Vietnam, Tom started his auto mechanics career with owning Tom’s Service Center, then continued with several other shops. Semi-retirement found him in motel maintenance. 

Tom and Alice have two daughters Deb (Rich) Holmes and Christine (Ron) Ochsner, and six grandchildren, Alexandria, Jakob, Zac, Maddie, Richard Jr, and Izaak. Tom recently retired and enjoys camping, fishing, and antique cars & tractors.