This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ark_trav1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.blackshear/39.58.61.63.71.73.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Following is from Perry Lynnfield Blackshears "Blacksheariana HAMILTON HOWARD BLACKSHEAR, b. 19 Oct, 1922 in Brooklyn, NY, son of Rebecca Thomas Branham and Rev. Robert Henry Blackshear, Sr., d. 25 Oct, 1997 in AL. Lived at Rescue Unit, Air Force Base, Korea; Flight Surgeon, Air Force, Washington, DC, Air Force Base Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Korean Service, Helicopter Emergency Flights from the front lines 1953. In Administration Air Corps at Washington, DC, 1954. Obituary: NASA Medical director Hamilton 'Ham' Blackshear By Laura J. Brown FLORIDA TODAY, November 13, 1997. SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. - Hamilton Howard "Ham" Blackshear, a former medical director for NASA, died Saturday, Oct. 25, in Alabama. He was 75. Dr. Blackshear was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He graduated from Tusculum College of Greenville, Tenn. and served in the Navy V-12 program during World War II, completing his pre-medical education at the University of Virginia and the Naval Hospital in St. Albans, N.Y. He entered the Air Force Reserve after the war and he completed his medical training and received his degree from Cornell University Medical School in New York City. He returned to active duty during the Korean War and completed Para Rescue and Survival training in 1951, Advanced Survival training in 1956; Flight Surgeon training in 1963; and Special Air Warfare training in 1967. Dr. Blackshear was assigned to the medical staff at Holloman Air Force Base where he worked with the unit training HAM, the first chimpanzee to go into space. Subsequently, he served as Chief of Medicine with the space program at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. After retiring from the Air Force, he served NASA as Medical Director. While at Holloman Air Force Base he was involved with working with approximently 60 chimps who were named after the personnel assigned and by the luck of the draw HAM the chimp, named after Dr. Blackshear, was chosen to make the first flight. During his military career Dr. Blackshear attained the rank of colonel. He was a member of American Legion Post 200 and VFW Post 4643, both of Satellite Beach. Survivors include his brothers, Robert Blackshear of Birmingham, Ala., and David Blackshear of Charleston, S.C. No calling hours are scheduled. Services were private. Valley Chapel Funeral Home in Alabama handled the arrangements. Cit: Ls. David Singleton Blackshear (brother), N. Y. City; Mrs. R. H. Blackshear (mother), Peekskill, NY, 1952. Interview, R. H. Blackshear, New York, 9 Dec, 1953. "Florida Today," November 13, 1997. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.