James “Pappy” Coleman earned 3 Silver Stars, a Distinguished Flying Cross, 2 Bronze Stars and an Air Medal all for Valor, and 2 Purple Hearts; but no award matches the respect he earned from those he served. On hundreds of missions, in numerous minefields and countless bullet-swept battle zones, Coleman tread where others would not. He cared more for others’ lives than his own. One mission illustrates his courage and dedication: after detonating a mine which blew him into the air filling his body with shrapnel and setting his pants on fire, he got up, put out the fire and refused treatment until all the wounded had been loaded. Another mission illustrates his attitude: a bullet passed between his lips filling them with blood. When a fellow soldier rushed to his aid, Coleman quipped through the blood, “I am good to go. I just kissed the bullet that had my name on it.” Jim Coleman was a giant among DUSTOFF medics. James Coleman was inducted into the DUSTOFF Hall of Fame on 1 March 2008.
