Retired Maj. Gen. Jerry D. Holmes of Mesa flew 130 combat missions in Vietnam, worked on an early U.S. military space program and later commanded NATO’s fleet of airborne radar planes in Europe.
On Veterans Day, the 91-year-old will lead the East Valley Veterans Parade through downtown Mesa as grand marshal.
Holmes was born in 1935 in Jenks, Oklahoma. At the University of Oklahoma, he earned a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering and received his Air Force commission through ROTC in 1958. He completed pilot training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, the next year…