Lieutenant Colonel (USAF Ret.) Benjamin Borom Mathis, (1919-2013) was born in Elba, Alabama on January 9, 1919 to Pope Gordon Mathis Jr. and Celia McClellan. After graduating from Elba High School in May 1936, Major Mathis enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He graduated in 1940 with his Bachelor's degree in Commerce and Business Administration.

Major Mathis then entered the service in September 1940 and was accepted to Flight School in Randolph and Kelly Fields, Texas. He graduated in April 1941 and was assigned to Langley Field, Virginia flying B-18's and PT-17's. After three months he was reassigned to Orlando, Florida where he remained until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His mission quickly changed to anti-submarine warfare. The problem was his unit did not have anything to fly the mission with except B-18's. After a quick trip to California to pick up their North American B-25's, his unit settled into their new mission. They patrolled from Miami, Florida up the entire East coast to Newfoundland and eventually switched to the mission in the Consolidated B-24 "Liberator".

In September 1943 the U.S. Navy took over the anti-submarine warfare mission from the Army Air Corps and Major Mathis was assigned to Casper, Wyoming as an instructor in the B-24. While there, Captain Dwight F. Lewis, (who was the first commander of the 2nd ERS), his friend called him to see if he wanted to join a new Rescue outfit, the Second Emergency Rescue Squadron. He agreed and traveled to Keesler Field, Mississippi and joined Captain Lewis as the first Operations Officer. He remained as the Ops Officer until Major Lewis was reassigned stateside and then he took over as the Commanding Officer. Major Mathis returned home on July 1945, just before the Japanese surrendered.

In November 1945 he got out of the service and went to work in the automobile business. (Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac) He went back into the Air Rescue Service at McDill AFB in 1946 and remained until 1947. He got out again, but being in the Reserve was recalled during the Korean conflict in 1951. He was in Paris, France for 18 months, (active duty) but stayed in the Reserve until 1961. In the mid 1960's Major Mathis bought the automobile dealership in which he worked since 1941. He kept the business until 1995 when he sold it. Major Mathis is retired now and lives in East Otis, Massachusetts.

 Ben passed away on 9 March 2013 surrounded by his family. Read his Obiturary HERE.

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