Lonnie D. Nelson was born in Lexington, Nebraska and lived primarily on farms until graduation from college. In the summer of his 7th year, he watched every week as a Korean War returnee flew an airplane to deliver flyers on weekend specials at local town. Lonnie marveled as the airplane flew by that it would be so much fun to fly!

Biology.In his early life, the family regularly fished and hunted for recreation, but more importantly to add food to the family table. After 10 years of participating in these outings and three encounters with rare wildlife species, he opted to pursue a college degree majoring in Fish and Wildlife Biology.

He enrolled at Kearney State College where he concentrated on science classes to transfer for the degree he wanted. In the spring of his sophomore year, he received a letter from the college he wanted to attend that the cost for each year would be almost four times the amount he would have for education. He was on the verge of quitting college in 1965 which, with the Vietnam War, would have resulted in a draft notice from the US Army in forty-eight hours. As he was preparing for this decision, a fellow student heard what he was facing and told him about the Fish and Wildlife degree, “If that’s what you want, you’ll find a way!”. He talked to an Air Force recruiter, and learned he could go to Officer Training if he had a college degree in any field. He graduated with a teaching degree and joined the U.S. Air Force. U