aka 'Ridge Runner'
Squadron Leader, 335thFS/4thFG
Name: Jim Garrett
Age: "Its not the years, its the miles..."
Location: Ft. Walton Bch., FL
Founding Member of the 4thFG (11/15/95)
After graduating from the University of West Florida and traveling the country for many years as a professional musician playing keyboards, working in studios and show bands, entertaining at the "posh" watering holes of South Florida, performing all types of music including rock, country and jazz, I returned to my home town of Ft. Walton Beach on Florida's beautiful Gulf Coast and went to work in radio as an Advertising Executive for Adult Comtemporary radio station WAVE 102 and later jazz format station WSBZ, "the Seabreeze of the Emerald Coast".
My wife Dianne and I started our own business appraising real estate five years ago. Di is from Lapeer, Michigan and is a fitness buff. We have raised three boys, two of which are grown and actually have jobs! Our youngest son Stephen, carrying on a family tradition, is a rock and roll guitar playing surfer.
I am a student of history, currently the author of A MARINE DIARY: MY EXPERIENCES ON GUADALCANAL which can be found on my Web site, Garrett's SkyHole. Growing up near Eglin AFB here in NW Florida led to a fascination with air planes, in particular, the planes of WWII, which naturally led me to WarBirds.
In the summer months I enjoy swimming and windsurfing. Spring and Fall we like to go up to the Great Smoky Mountains and hike the Appalachian Trail.
With a rousing "Hoka Hey! It is a good day to die!", I mount up Ridge Runner, my P-51D Mustang and roam the "High Lonesome". I've had a long running love affair with my first love Rita, my F4U Corsair and nothing is more thrilling than Dive Bombing in an SBD. In the '96 Solomons II Scenerio, a long time dream came true when I was assigned to fly F4F Wildcats over Guadalcanal, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross in that event.