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Jon S. Davis  1969

Cullum No. 28032-1969 | June 19, 2009 | Died in Coos Bay, OR
Interred in Sunset Memorial Park, Coos Bay, OR


Jon Steven Davis arrived at West Point as a lifelong Army brat, the son of Major George and Verna (Gregory) Davis. He had been on the “new school each year program”—14 different schools across the world by the time he graduated from Bethel (Washington) High School as salutatorian with a perfect grade point average, not surprising to those who knew him, since academic brilliance was one of Jon’s defining traits. Jon’s academic feats are also well known to his classmates (and his P’s), as were his exploits in the Glee Club. His roommates often laughed about how annoyed he was by their offkey “singing” to the tunes of the Sixties. There was also the Chess Club, but Jon, ever the Renaissance man, was also quarterback in Goat-Engineer football (Engineers, of course).
Jon had arrived at West Point with a tremendous sense of service, which was burnished by Duty, Honor, Country until it became a major part of his life and legacy. Jon was commissioned as an ADA officer, and after branch training he volunteered for Vietnam. He was assigned as a deputy district senior advisor in the Delta. There, in 1972, he was awarded a Bronze Star with V device for his actions in the repulse of multiple assaults over two days on the encircled ARVN compound where he was senior advisor. The enemy suffered heavy casualties.
Nearing the end of his five-year obligation, Jon came to understand that his service to the Army and his country should be as a doctor. Branch transfers were not a simple matter, so Jon resigned his commission and enrolled in the University of Washington Medical School, rejoining the Army as a medical officer student. During his medical school entrance interview, the interview board was impressed that Jon didn’t seem more nervous. He responded, “I don’t view this as a high-pressure situation. No one is shooting at me.” Jon received a scholarship through the Army that paid his tuition, books, etc., and put him in the reserves for all four years of medical school. Upon graduation in June 1978, he returned to the Regular Army as a captain.
After completing his internship in 1979, Jon served as brigade surgeon for the 193rd Infantry in Panama during the period that the Canal was turned over to Panama. Here Jon learned that he “fit in” a combat brigade well because he had so much previous experience in the regular army. During this tour, he married his wife Kim (nee White), also an Army veteran, whom he had met while in medical school. Her three-year enlistment, serving as an Arabic linguist in the PSYOP group, enabled her to attend Nursing School at the University of Washington. They were married in 1980, after she completed school.
Jon then served his orthopedic residency at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. He later served at Ireland Army Hospital (Fort Knox, KY) and Moncreif Army Community Hospital (Fort Jackson, SC). Duty as an Army orthopedist meant days of long hours and nights of emergency surgeries, with no compensating time off. While head of orthopedics at Moncrief Army Community Hospital, he was promoted to colonel. During these years Jon had “repaid” the Army—fulfilled all his obligations—but he did not leave the service for civilian positions, jobs that offered pay two or three times that of the Army. Jon decided to stay until he was eligible to retire. Given what he had received from the Academy’s training and excellent education, Jon felt he owed it to his classmates and country.
In 1990, he deployed from Moncrief with the 3297th U.S. Army Hospital (a Reserve hospital stationed in Chamblee, GA) to Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. The mobile hospital was in Iraq, just over the border from Kuwait. During his short deployment, Jon mostly treated wounded Iraqi soldiers.
Jon retired from active service in 1993 as one of the very few doctors with a Ranger Tab, Jump Wings, CIB and decorations for valor in combat. His exit physical determined that he had accomplished all this with a broken neck. Jon believed that it was probably from a bad parachute landing during Airborne School.
Jon and Kim, now with three young children (Sean, Katie and George), moved to North Bend, OR. They enjoyed the local community and raising their beloved children. Jon loved his work, practicing medicine as a partner in South Coast Orthopedics, until semi-retirement in 2007. He then enjoyed reading, crossword puzzles, travel with Kim, and most of all his full night’s sleep each night with no late-night phone calls or surgeries. Still, Jon continued as a surgeon on a part-time basis until the very end. He assisted in surgery on the morning of his fatal stroke. He died on June 19, 2009 in Coos Bay, OR at the hospital in which he devoted so much time. His final act of service was as an organ donor.
Jon did not survive long enough to enjoy seeing his children mature into adulthood. After Jon’s death, Sean obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering; Katie obtained a doctorate in physical therapy; and George a degree in fabrication and design. His family and legacy continue to grow with a third grandchild in 2018.
For this Best of the Line member, it can truly be said, “Well Done; Be Thou at Peace.”

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