Army, Air Force veteran Danley enjoys long military career

Dean Danley spent 21 years in the service, including the Army and the Air Force, and saw many parts of the world. But, it seems, he kept coming back to Korea.

Born in 1929, Danley spent his early days in the Metz area, moved to Des Moines in 1937, but came back in time to graduate from Newton High School. On Aug. 9, 1946, when he turned 17, he went to Des Moines to enlist in the U.S. Army. After a brief stop in Fort Snelling, Minn., and then Fort Riley, Kan., for processing, he was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for basic training. From there, he was sent directly to Korea during the Japanese occupation. That was in January of 1947.

“Oh, it was cold,” Danley remembers. “I had worked for my dad as a mechanic, so they put me in the motor pool. But, when the commanding officer found out I could type, they made me the company clerk. That was much better.”

He was promoted to staff sergeant after nine months, and his base was the motor vehicle distribution point. Danley remembers a big hill of trucks and other military equipment which the Army rebuilt or used for parts. The Japanese army had dug caves into the sides of the mountains and the bomb disposal units were constantly finding supplies, guns, swords and other items, which they would set on fire or break with hammers.

After a tour of 22 months, Danley was sent back to Fort Jackson, S.C., where he served as company clerk and assistant first sergeant until he was discharged in Aug. 1949. He then joined the Army Reserves.

Not wanting to go back into the Army, Danley decided to join the Air Force in July 1950. He retained his rank of sergeant and took training at Sampson Air Force Base in New York, including winter survival skills. From there it was back to Korea, and Danley said he worked in combat operations. He says much of his work there was classified and he still can’t talk about his work there. He will say he flew in the F86 fighter jets, the first jet to fly in combat. He worked in intelligence and sometimes in personnel.

“We had classified material. You could put down that I was an observer,” Danley said. “In 1952, the war only lasted another year.”

After the war, Danley came back to the U.S., and in March 1953 was stationed at Waverly Aircrafte Control and Radar Squadron. While working in personnel, he got a call from a former lieutenant asking him if he wanted to go to England.

So, in September, 1954, he was transferred to the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and wound up at the Air Force Base in Bentwaters, England. He worked in personnel and administration there. He took air-to-ground gunnery training at Wheeles Field in Tripoli in 1957, and shortly after that the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was redesignated the 512th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.

It was at that time that the 512th was named the best Fighter Interceptor Squadron in the Air Force by the Hughes Aircraft Corp. The trophy is now at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

It was about this time also, that Danley met his future wife, Pat Townsend, at a ballroom in Southwold, England. They were married Oct. 6, 1956, and are still married today.

Danley was reassigned to the states in December 1958, and stationed in Mountain Home, Idaho Air Force Base, then to IBM and Data Systems school in Shepherd Field, Texas in 1962. He was the non-commissioned officer in charge, and trained the other men. The men worked on key punches and a key punch verifier, which transferred information from the key punch cards to electronic tape.

This was the early days of the computer revolution, and the Air Force didn’t yet have a military occupation specialty designation for what Danley and the other men were doing, so he couldn’t get a promotion. So, in June 1963, Danley decided to get out of the Air Force and rejoin the Army.

Back to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. for refresher training, then in Aug. 1963 it was back to (you guessed it), Korea, where he continued to work in data processing. Returning to the states in 1964, he ended up in the Sixth Army Headquarters in Ft. Lewis, Wash. for a job in data processing. He spent a year there, and then was transferred to Ft. Amador, Panama, where he continued data processing and trained others.

In October 1967, Danley retired from all his military service, after 21 years of active duty, and now, including reserves, has a total of 43 years of service.

“I had a lot of fun in Korea,” Danley said. And, along the way, he earned his share of medals and ribbons, including three Bronze Battle Stars, a U.S. and Korean Unit Citations, a World War II Victory medal, a Korean Service medal, a Vietnam Campaign medal, an Outstanding Unit Award for the 512th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, and a Korean Occupation medal.

After his military career was over, Danley didn’t sit on his laurels, either. He went to work at Maytag Corp. for five months, then went to the foundry as a pattern maker. He worked at Parsons Co. until 1970, then spent the next three years at the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office. He left to take the police chief job in Colfax until 1977, then to Fisher Controls in Marshalltown where he retired in December 1992. He has also served as site supervisor at the Grinnell rest area on Interstate 80. Still, with full retirement, Dean Danley can’t seem to sit still.

“Now, I’m really retired,” Danley said. “I’ve been working around this house ever since.”

John Jennings can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 425 or via email at jjennings@newtondailynews.com.