Jimmy J. Jumper

Jimmy Jefferson Jumper was an American Air Force Major General and the father of 17th Air Force Chief of Staff John P. Jumper.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and became a pilot in 1944. He served as an Air Force officer in the Korean War and Vietnam War before retiring in 1974.

Early life

Jimmy Jefferson Jumper was born in 1923 in San Antonio, Texas. He was the son of Delbert Lee Jumper a cotton farmer and U.S. Navy veteran of World War One. His uncle Samuel Augusta Jumper was a U.S. Army veteran. He attended Paris High School, Paris, Texas in 1939.

During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1941 and by December 1944 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after completing an aviation cadet program at [Moore United States Air Force|Air Force Base|Moore Field], Texas during World War II. He served in the U.S. Occupation of Japan and his son John P. Jumper was born on February 4, 1945.
He served in several positions in the United States and Far East. By June 1951, Jumper served as director of Aircraft Maintenance, Eastern Air Defense Force, Stewart Air Force Base, N.Y. In April 1953, he served as a liaison officer for Air Defense Command. In July 1956, he attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
Jumper served in the Headquarters Air Defense Command in July 1964 and was a director of operational inspection. In July 1971, he was sent to the Republic of Vietnam as assistant chief of staff, plans and assumed duties as deputy chief of staff, intelligence, Headquarters Seventh Air Force, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, in December 1971, and as chief, Air Force Advisory Group of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Then as He retired from the Air Force in 1974.

He died on March 9, 1979, in Bexar, Texas.