Grandpa Dick Gipson served in the Navy and then the Air Force.

My Grandmother Imogene Gipson followed my grandpa to Germany, Korea, all over, and raised six children and made it look easy. She was as tough as any Soldier I met, never said a lie and never held back the truth.

Grandpa served in the Navy and then the Air Force. He was stationed here, at Barksdale AFB when my father was a child, so we have four generations of history on this base. My husband and I have lived here for nearly 20 years now (not counting my time in Turkey and at Beale AFB, CA where we were for three years and I retired, and not counting his year in Korea). Our oldest was one of the last three babies born on base on Oct 31, 1997.

My father, Ritchie Gipson served in the Air Force, and got out 15 years later as an SSgt. I joined the Air Force in 1995 and served in OIF/OEF in Turkey shipping equipment from downrange to be calibrated and returned for 16 months. I retired in 2006 due to a medical injury.

My husband, David Dunson, Jr. is serving in the Air Force for over 22 years now and is on currently deployment. The cutout that my husband is holding was “Flat Stanley”, a school project our son was doing during my husband’s deployment to Kuwait in 2005. It came from a children’s book, the story being that he made himself flat to travel the world by mail. We sent him to David for photos and he sent him back, it was fun seeing the children react to how far our Stanley had been.

Our sons, Jacob Dunson (15) and Davey CountryBoy Dunson (18) in JRAFROTC, Jacob is a Jr. in high school and Davey recently graduated. Davey’s future plans are to become an EMT and join the Air Force. He’ll be 4th generation AF on my side of the family and second on his father’s.

We are a proud, grateful family.
~ Candy Dunson, USAF Veteran

Veteran Stories Interviewed by Jenny LaSala www.JennyLasala.com