SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — He flew 400 combat missions, has been awarded more than 50 medals and citations, and now he’s being honored with one of the most prestigious awards in the state.
Col. Elmer Follis Jr. is now 96 years old.
“Born in Memphis. Lived here all my life until I went into service,” Follis said.
He was 17 years old when he enlisted in the Marines.
“I made it through boot camp. I went into aviation mechanic school, and after aviation mechanic school, I was transferred to a marine airbase,” he said.
Follis discovered a love for flying, continuing lessons after he was discharged and enlisted in the Air Force in 1951. He quickly earned his pilot wings and jet fighter-bomber training.
“The rest is history, I guess,” Follis said.
A year later, he was deployed to Korea, where he flew 100 combat missions and got to meet President Dwight Eisenhower when he visited troops.
“The president was going to drive down and observe all the airplanes. I was picked from my squadron. It was snowing. There was 10-12 inches of snow on the ground. It was a blizzard,” he said. “As he approached it, I stood there and saluted. He stopped, and the president got out.”
Follis said the president wanted a briefing.
“I thought to myself, here’s a man that led the invasion of Europe WWII. He knows more about this airplane than I do. He’s being so nice,” Follis said. “We talked [for] ten minutes.”
Follis doesn’t call that his proudest moment, though. That came in 1967 during his tour in Vietnam.
He got an S.O.S. message that troops were being overrun near Dak To by the North Vietnamese Army.
“If they did not get that close air support, they would be overrun by the enemy, with catastrophic casualties,” Follis said. “A typhoon was in Vietnam. A typhoon is a hurricane.”
He was part of a three-ship mission. They flew through a treacherous typhoon into mountainous terrain. Their plane was getting low fuel.
“When he called for bingo fuel, we still had one bomb and all of our cannon ammo left. That’s when I thought we were going to go home, but the flight lead said no. We flew through a typhoon to come up here and save as many lives as we can,” he said. “Most of the people fighting in Vietnam were teenagers. That was the age 19. There were a lot of teenagers down there that were dying.”
They managed to drop 750 bombs at close range and saved one battalion of men, which is an estimated 600 lives.
“When we got back home. We had to land with emergency fuel the base was below minimum. No alternates available,” he said. “You pray and say, ‘Lord let me see that runaway before I hit it.’ Thankfully, we all made it.”
During a Veterans Day program in 2017, Col. Follis relived the mission to a large crowd. Matt Van Epps was in the audience.
“In 1967, my dad was in the Fourth Infantry Division as a tunnel rat. He was in Vietnam,” said Van Epps.
He was the assistant commissioner for Tennessee Veteran Services at the time. He oversaw the western region. He’s now the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services.
“[Follis] was talking about this mission where there was close air support both Army and Air Force, and they were being overrun,” he said. “Col. Follis is ticking through these details. I’m like that sounds really close to the story my dad used to tell my brother and me. I think that might be, my dad’s unit.”
Van Epps was at the edge of his seat as Follis underscored the hundreds of lives saved and the children who would not have been born if it weren’t for that mission.
“So when he got done, I said I think I might be one of those kids,” Van Epps said. “He did that knowing he may not come home. He did it to protect others, so others like my dad could come home. I have so much respect and thankfulness.”
Follis was also shocked to hear what Van Epps said.
“I think both of us were crying. It was very, very emotional at the time. I think both of us had tears in our eyes that day,” Follis said.
Follis retired with 5,500 hours and 400 combat missions. His career later became centered around nuclear operations as he became the Department of Defense Chief of the Air Force Central Command’s Nuclear Branch.
He has more than 50 medals and citations, including five distinguished flying crosses.
He’ll now receive another remarkable tribute. He will be inducted into the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame.
The application process is intricate, and this year, Follis is the only inductee from our region.
The ceremony takes place this fall. Follis’s entire family will be there. He tells us it will be bittersweet.
“It’s a thrill. It’s a thrill to be honored,” Follis said. “I will be 97 when I get it, within a few days. That means I won’t be around to enjoy it very long.”
While he wishes he’d had more time to enjoy it, he knows he’s lived a life to be proud of.
The mementos and pictures have been added to his collection. They tell his life story of duty, honor, and bravery.
A legacy that will now be engraved and never forgotten.