Banana Valley

Annotation — US Military & Veteran Songs

Dick Jonas, from Florida, US, served in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, taking part in 125 missions, and receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters and the Air Medal with 12 clusters.1 While in Vietnam, Jonas wrote songs and played guitar for the US troops there and as part of pacification programs. Some of these recordings were captured in the General Edwin Lansdale Collection of Vietnam War Songs - 6 ten inch tapes of one-hundred-sixty songs by American military personnel in Vietnam - stored at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.23 Jonas returned from Vietnam in 1969 and recorded the album FSH Volume I (Goldust Records # LPS156), a collection of contemporary folk songs, influenced by US folksong revival of the 1960s.4 He also recorded during the Vietnam War years the 1971 album FSH Volume II - "YGBSM" (Goldust Records # LPS157) and the 1973 album Two Sides of Dick Jonas (Goldust Records # LPS-162). Included on this 1969 album was the song "Fighter Pilot's Christmas" in which the narrating soldier sent a Christmas message home to his family. A re-recorded version appeared on the 1991 compilation In Country: Folk Songs of Americans in the Vietnam War (Flying Fish Records # # FF 70552), part of the Vietnam Veterans Oral History and Folklore Project.5 Also note that on his 1971 album FSH Volume II - "YGBSM", discussed below, he wrote the song "Battle Hymn of the Red River Rats" which referenced P.O.W.s.& Sources1Erosonic: Dick Jonas↩2Library of Congress, American Folklife Center: Vietnam War collections guide (archived copy)↩3Library of Congress↩4Buffalo State University↩5Buffalo State University↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Goldust LPS156 (labels: LPS-156, Side 1 / Side 2), stereo, 33⅓ RPM; Goldust Records, P.O. Box 998, Mesilla Park, New Mexico 88047. The front cover shows an engraved eagle over a Stars-and-Stripes shield on a blue panel beside the title "FSH Volume I", with a Liberty Bell device. All selections written by Richard E. Jonas and published by Enchantment Music Co., BMI; musicians Jake Brooks (drums), Jim Bob Sedgwick (guitar) and Emmit Brooks (bass); recorded at Emmit Brooks Recording Studio, Mesilla Park, New Mexico, engineer Emmit Brooks. The back carries a photograph of "Capt. Richard Jonas" in flight suit playing guitar beside an aircraft, with a note that he has flown the Phantom II over three continents and flew one hundred combat missions over North Vietnam. A signed dedication by Dick Jonas "To the 433D Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, United States Air Force"…

About the artist

US Air Force fighter pilot (Lt Col, ret.); flew 125 combat missions in the F-4 Phantom with the 8th TFW Wolf Pack from Ubon, Thailand, 1967-68, and recorded numerous albums of fighter-pilot ballads from 1969 onward. Born and raised in the Suwannee River valley of northern Florida. Currently resides in Chino Valley, Arizona. [Source: artist website erosonic.com; publisher bios]

Themes

Patriotic · Vet · Military

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years] · US Military & Veteran Songs