Billy Blankenship is the great grandson of John W. Blankenship (spelled Blankinship in those days) and Eliza Miller, who came to Black Jack in 1859 from Alabama. John W. Blankenship was a Confederate cavalry soldier in the Civil War. He owned several hundred acres of land, and is the progenitor of all the Blankenships in the Attoyac (Black Jack) area.
            Eliza Miller was the daughter of Hiram & Milbry Miller. Her sister, Dicy Miller, married Benjamin Rhodes in Alabama, and they also came to the Black Jack/Melrose area  in about 1859, probably shortly before John W. and his family.
            Dr. Blankenship, a fourth generation Texan, was born in Longview, Texas on February 13, 1928. He was the only son of a railroad engineer from Attoyac, Texas, and a school teaching mother from Neuville, Texas. His father, John Oscar, served with the 90th Infantry Division in France in World War I, was recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross, and later survived a German attack with mustard gas while fighting on the front line. Dr. Blankenship grew up in Mineola, Texas,   and at an early age was recommended for the Carnegie Medal for Heroism for rescuing an elderly woman from her burning home. He lettered in football and track at the age of 14.
            He graduated  at the age of 16 from Polytechlnic High School, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1944  and immediately entered Army ROTC at North Texas Agricultural College, a junior branch of Texas A&M College in Arlington Texas. At age 17, he volunteered for the U.S. Merchant Marine and attended U.S. Maritime School at Catalina Island, California, where he received U.S. Coast Guard papers for service in the deck force of U.S. merchant vessels. He served aboard a troop transport in the Pacific and during the invasion of Okinawa went ashore with the troops for a short period of land combat. He later served aboard tankers and freighters in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and North Sea.
            Upon reaching 18 years of age he volunteered for the regular Navy and served two years in the Pacific aboard destroyers as a seaman and sonarman 3rd class. After discharge from the Navy, he again sailed merchant ships all over the world for another three years, served briefly with General Chiang Kai-Shek Forces during the fall of Tientsin, China and ended his career as a licensed third officer.
            Bill later received B.S., B. A. and M.Ed. degrees with honors and highest honors from Stephen F. Austin State College, Nacogdoches TX. While in college he married Carolyn Keeling, a school teacher, and they later had three girls, Roberta, Jimmie, and Lt. Jean Ann Blankenship, USNR, who is a combat rated patrol bomber plane commander who flew in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. In addition to her gold naval aviator wings, she received Army Parachute Wings at Ft. Benning GA.
            Dr. Blankenship is a 1958 honor graduate of the University of Texas Dental Branch-Houston, where he received the D.D.S. degree and was elected to OKU Honor Society. He also received a two year U.S. Public Health Service Post-doctoral Fellowship to pursue Ph.D. studies at Baylor University College of Medicine. He was commissioned a Lt, Dental Corps, USNR in 1958 and organized, commissioned and commanded USNR Dental Company 8-3 in Houston during this time period. He also served as Battalion Dental Officer with the First Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division, USMCR in Houston.
            He is a 1963 honor graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston where he received his M.D. degree, was elected to AOA Honor Society, and completed internship and residency training to become a board certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon. In 1967, he became Assistant Professor of Surgery and Chief, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery until entering private practice in Harlingen, Texas in 1969. During this period, he served as batallion surgeion with 1/23, 4th Mardiv and Delta Company, 4th Amphibious Tractor Batallion in Galveston. He also attended the US Army Parachute School at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
            In 1966, Dr. Blankenship volunteered to serve in Vietnam with the U.S. State Department and U.S. Navy as a surgeon, working at times with U.S. and Vietnamese Special Forces. He received several commendations from the government of Sosuth, Vietnam and the United States and the Humanitarian Service Award from the American Medical Association.
            In 1971, Dr. Blankenship was appointed Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology to the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. While there, he served as a major in the USAFR as a flight surgeon and hospital commander, and logged 500 hours in C-130 aircraft with the 433rd Tactical Airlift Wing. He graduated from the USAF Aerospace Medicine School and later graduated from the USAF Air Command and Staff College and then later from the Air War College.
            Dr. Blankenship again entered the U.S. Navy as a commander on active duty in 1974, attended submarine and diving school, and naval special warfare training (UDT/SEAL) and served two years the Western Pacific operating out of Subic Bay, Philippines in USS Grayback (SS571) as the submarine and diving medical officer for naval special warfare (UDT/Seals) and the 7th Fleet. In 1977, he was promoted to Captain and became the Force Medical Officer for the submarine force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, with headquarters at the Cinc Lantflt Compound, Norfolk VA, where he was the doctor for 26,000 submariners and deep sea divers. He also served short tours on several nuclear fast attack and fleet ballistic missile submarines. During 1990-91, he returned to Okinawa after 35 years, as division surgeon, 3D Marine Division, and Force Surgeon, III Marine Amphibious Force, FMY, with headquarters in Okinawa, Japan, where he was the doctor for 46,000 Marines in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans. In 1982, he became executive officer and director of clinical services at the Naval Hospital, Corpus Christi. He also served as the Senior Naval Medical Officer, NR Headquarters, European Command, US Army, 1985.
            Dr. Blankenship is a retired military flight surgeon, military parachutist, navy deep sea diver and submarine and diving medical officer, as well as being a commercial pilot with instrument and multiengine ratings. Bill has traveled to 90 foreign countries and all fifty of the United States. He served briefly in WWII, China Civil War, Korean War, and Vietnam.
            He has American Boards in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Family Practice, and Hyperbaric Medicine. He has belonged to some 70 scientific societies, published and presented some 150 scientific articles and has been on the staffs at some 30 hospitals. His awards include the Legion of Merit, Navy & Marine Corps Medal, Purple Heart, Navy Meritorious, Navy Commendation X2, Combat Action, Navy Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Air Force Outstanding Unit, organized Marine Corps Reserve X2; Armed Forces Victory, Navy Occupation, China Service, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Humanitarian Service, SEA Service, K2, Navy & Marine Corps Overseas Service, Fleet Marine Force Ribbon, Air Force Longevity, Armed Forces Reserve X3, Navy Expert Pistol X3, Navy Expert Rifle X2, Air Force Small Arms Expert, US Merchant Marine Victory, USMM Pacific War Zone, USMM Atlantic War Zone, USMM Mediterranean War Zone, Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation Gallantry Cross, Republic of Vietnam, China War Memorial, Association of Military Surgeons, Letters of Commendation X5; Letters of Appreciation X4, Parachutist Wings, Basic, Flight Surgeon Wings, Navy Parachutist Wings, Submarine Dolphins, Diving Medical Officer, Command Ashore, USMM WWII Badge, and Vietnamese and Philippine Parachute Wings.
            Dr. Blankenship is presently Director of Hyperbaric Medicine at Spohn Memorial Hospital, and also is a professor and Director of the Dental Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. He lives on Padre Island, 13810 Suntan Ave., Corpus Christi, Texas 78418; his phone number is 361-949-7233 and his FAX is 361-949-8020. Billy is interested in the history of the Blankenships, Martins, Fullers, and Rhodes families, as well as the history of the Black Jack area in Nacogdoches County, Texas. You may email him by clicking on the link below: