LAWSON – World War II veteran Lindell Jarman, Lawson, celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by family on Thanksgiving.

Having spent three years in college, Jarman, then 21, volunteered for service July 30, 1942, in Kansas City, Kansas, based on National Archives information. He served as an Army Air Corps pilot – before the Air Force became a separate military branch – and spent one year in overseas service.

“I flew all over India and China. I made 82 different flights,” Jarman said. “That’s a lot of flights without a crash.”

Allied transport pilots called the east end of the Himalayan Mountains “The Hump,” over which they flew vital supplies from India for the Chinese against Japanese invaders. No supply route proved more dangerous, with more than 1,000 men and 600 planes going down, Insider reported.

When discharged honorably in 1946, Jarman returned stateside.

“I returned home to the United States by boat from Kolkata, India, to New York,” he said. “It took 28 days, and it was the most boring time of my life.”

Upon arrival, Jarman partnered in a funeral business. He retired around 1989.

Jarman’s wife, Rep. Martha Jarman, died in 1991. She served as state representative from eastern Clay County and the Excelsior Springs area from 1982 to 1990. Excelsior Springs High School awards the Martha Jarman scholarship annually for students planning a medical career.

Jarman said he enjoyed duck hunting. He created a duck hunting club with business friends and a relative 57 years ago near Mound City.

“The club included Dr. Bud McKinney, a dentist; Glenn Carroll, a pharmacist; Ralph Dale, a meat cutter; and my brother-in-law, Wayne Taylor, an airline pilot,” he said.

Jarman is the only surviving member.

“I will turn over the club to my sons, Michael and Tim Jarman, and I plan to retire from duck hunting at the close of the current season,” he said. “It just seems like the ducks are flying much faster than they used to.”