Dick
Jonas was born and raised in the Suwannee
River valley of northern Florida.
He served four years as an infantryman in the Georgia Army National Guard while attending Valdosta State College. He graduated in 1965 and entered the Air Force, receiving his commission through Officer Training School. In 22 years service he flew 3,000 jet fighter hours in the F-4 and F-16. During 125 missions in Vietnam he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters and the Air Medal with 12 clusters.
He retired from the Air Force in 1986, and became an Aerospace Science Instructor in the Air Force Junior ROTC program.
During 1991 and 92, in 325 performances he played the leading role in Guv: The Musical, a stage production of the Mill Avenue Theater in Tempe, Arizona.
Dick retired from teaching after 15 years of service, in June 2004. He is now a military folk musician. He is known as 'America's Foremost Military Aviation Song Writer and Balladeer.' His aim is to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of the warrior musician — 'the songs we sang about the planes we flew and the people we knew in the wars we fought.'
He has produced twenty-one albums and published three books about military folk music. He has written, published, and recorded over 120 musical compositions. His CDs and books are available at Erosonic, in Chino Valley, Arizona, and online at Amazon.com, CD Baby, and iTunes.
Dick is an actor, a writer, a guitar-player, a singer, and a businessman. He also flies. He and his wife, Mary, reside in Chino Valley, just north of Prescott, Arizona.
