USAF 3rd ARG / 39th SQ Patch Grouping

USAF 3rd Air Rescue Group / 39th Squadron Patch Grouping 

Dennis S. Fountain / Para Rescue Nametag 

These are one of those things that doesn't come around pretty often. A full set of history behind a patch. 

I’ve got this in an online auction months ago and I was trying to dig into the history of these patches and documentation that I’ve found with it and this patch set was made in japan and given to PJ MSgt. Dennis Sherman Fountain during his deployment in Ashiya, Japan Circa 1954/7. I also found his obituary and I’m now in process to seek his family to give back all the documentation that I don’t collect and I guess it would be nice to them to have back.

I think the obituary of MSgt. Fountain speaks by himself of a wonderful story of service to his nation. HooYah!

Dennis Sherman Fountain Sr. January 22, 1924 - September 5, 2010 "These things I do, that others may live." VANCOUVER, Wash. - Dennis Sherman Fountain was born January 22, 1924, to Dennis and Bessie Fountain in Mirando City, Texas. Dennis grew up in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area where he acquired his life-long passion for hunting and fishing. He didn't graduate from high school but instead enlisted in the U.S. Navy on May 13, 1941, where he served aboard the Destroyer USS Lawrence and at the end of the war, the Air Craft Carrier USS Antietam. Dennis went back home to Beaumont in 1947 and worked in the oil fields. He met and married Jeanette Carter and they had his first son, Dennis Jr. in September, 1951. Dennis loved military life and re-enlisted in 1952, this time in the Air Force as a Pararescueman. Dennis was one of the original 53 PJ's and loved the training and the life that went with it. Dennis met his second wife, Ardess Walker at Payette Lake, Idaho, Labor Day weekend 1953. They married in 1954 and were transferred to Kyushu Island and Ashyia AFB in Japan. Dennis was in the 39th Air Rescue Squad which conducted search, rescue and escort missions in Japan and Korea during and following the Korean war. Dennis and Ardess celebrated the birth of daughter, Susan in May, 1956. In February, 1957 Dennis was involved in one of the biggest single person rescues to date, helping over 100 people and directly saving 26 lives on a rescue mission while stationed at Ashyia and received the Air Medal. Two months later, a rescue alarm went off. Like all first responders, he didn't question who or why that fatal day; he simply went. His H-19 crashed and Dennis suffered third-degree burns over 68% of his body. He walked five miles off the mountain to survive the crash. He was transferred to Brook Army Hospital in Texas and was there for two years. The family moved to Oregon in 1959 and settled in Monmouth in 1960, where Dennis was employed at Adair AFB. Son, David was born at this time. Dennis was a member of the volunteer Police Department and helped in the rescue of many families during the flooding of 1964. Dennis continued to enjoy hunting and fishing in "God's Great Cathedral". He graduated from OCE (now Western Oregon University) and worked as a parole/probation office and later as a sales rep for K and L Distributors. He married Lois (Erickson) Harper in 1980. Together, they traveled the world. They continued to live in the Willamette Valley, and moved to Vancouver in 1990. He was a member of the American Legion - 32nd degree Mason, and a member of the Disabled American Veterans. He distributed 100's of American Flags each year and was the President of the Hummingbird Association.

About the 3rd Air Rescue Group:

The 3rd Air Rescue Group's mission was to supply rescue coverage for the Far East Command area of responsibility and to send its aircraft and crews wherever needed to save lives. It was responsible for finding aircrews who crashed or became lost, aiding them and returning them to safety. Though we primarily existed to save lives of American airmen in distress, our facilities were, at all times, available to the other branches of the Department of Defense, to agencies of foreign governments, and for aid wherever lives may be saved or human suffering alleviated -- a mercy mission."

The 3rd Air Rescue Group was organized as the Third Emergency Rescue Squadron at Gulfport Army Air Field, Gulfport, Mississippi, in February 1944. After intensive training at Gulfport and Keesler Fields, the Third Emergency Rescue Squadron was directed to overseas shipment.

The 3rd Emergency Rescue Squadron was reassigned to the Air Rescue Service from the Fifth Air Force in May 1949. On 10 August 1950, the Squadron was again reorganized as the Third Air Rescue Squadron which authorized additional equipment and personnel to assist the Squadron in providing adequate rescue coverage and support of the armed forces engaged in the Korean War.

When the Korean Conflict came, the Third blossomed overnight from a small peacetime squadron into the largest, most versatile rescue unit in the world. Rescue crews and aircraft swarmed to Korea to join the Third from all points of the globe, ready to create a new concept of Rescue technique as was required by the rugged terrain. The traditional role of rescue in war -- as a support for long range air operations -- had to be replaced by a tactical concept of rescue to meet the needs presented by the use of tactical airpower in Korea. The need for flexibility was satisfied by the helicopter which was capable of getting in and out of tight spots, inaccessible to conventional aircraft. Many a crew member downed behind enemy lines later claimed that the most beautiful sight in their lives was the approach of the Rescue helicopter.

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