Teachers come in all forms. Some stand in front of a classroom. Others teach you lessons about life and how to live it. Both are important.

Jack Swindle was one of those second teachers. A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, he taught JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) to youngsters in Missouri.

Now long retired, his former students are planning to honor him with a gathering at Perdido Beach this weekend.

“Jack was the glue that held that program together,” said Sam Snyder, one of his former students.

“They tell me I taught them about living,” said Swindle. “Some of them I have not seen in 35 years. I can’t wait to ask them what that is about.”

Snyder recalls one time when he got into some trouble while in JROTC.

“I got called back into the classroom, and I had done something wrong. Jack was doing the talking and the two colonels there were doing the looking. He would get in your face,” said Snyder.

Swindle began his career in the Air Force in April, 1942.

“I walked out of the cotton rows,” chuckled Swindle, explaining that he and his family lived in Alabama at the time. World War II was raging, and Swindle knew it was probable that he’d be drafted. The pay at the civilian jobs Swindle could get, “just a few dollars a month,” helped him decide the military was for him.

During WW II he flew on B-25 bombers in Italy, Corsica and North Africa. Flack was a constant companion.

“It’s what you don’t hear that gets you,” said Swindle.

He rose to the position of flight engineer, responsible for making sure the aircraft was properly loaded and balanced. As he was also a member of the plane’s flight crew, he’d be the first to know if something was done wrong.

He was a flight line supervisor, keeping planes ready to fly and went to Korea as a flight line chief. He had similar duties in Vietnam. He says he was exposed to Agent Orange while in Vietnam, and is on disability from the Air Force.

When he finally retired, he became an ROTC instructor. He taught ROTC at Auburn for a time, but transferred to a JROTC (high school) program in St. Charles, Mo. He had earned two years of college credits while in the service, and the school system gave him a two-year grace period to earn his teaching credential. He graduated from Tarkio College in Mo. He later taught JROTC in Nevada, Mo.

Swindle and his late wife, Kathleen, met on a blind date (Kathleen had been in the Army) and raised a family while he was in the Air Force. The couple had two sons and a daughter.

While military life, and the constant moving that comes with it can be a trial, Swindle said his wife “loved it.” He recalls a time when he was stationed in England and then was posted in France with the family in tow.

“She would go shopping,” he laughed.

He’s touched that some of his former students want to meet him again and honor him on his birthday. He will be 89 on Nov. 13. The reunion is open to all his former cadets and their families. Call 943-4124 or 901-434-7659 for details.

“Some are coming from Texas, some, Missouri and some from Kentucky,” said Swindle. Many of his cadets have gone on to military careers of their own.

And some didn’t. Snyder was in Swindle’s JROTC program from 1972 to 1975. He had a scholarship from the Army Corps of Engineers to any college in the country, was planning to go to Virginia Tech, but a construction accident after graduation ended that dream.

“One of the first persons I wanted to visit (after Snyder got home from rehab) was Jack. He was so proud.”

Snyder said he later learned that Swindle spoke to other cadets about Snyder and the fact that it took a few years before Snyder was able to return to college full time (earning a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech), “didn’t decrease his pride in what I had accomplished.”

According to his son, Jack, one of Swindle’s drill teams took a Missouri state championship in 1974.

“You never realize that your life makes such an impact,” said Jack Swindle, his son. “He served in the military and you’d think that was enough, but his students want to come here and celebrate with him.”

“When I moved to Foley (to be closer to his son) nobody knew where I went. They thought I dropped off the earth,” said Swindle. “Then word got around I was still alive and it spread like wildfire.”