AUGUSTA — Jim Paradis, 98, of Monmouth sat in a recliner in the common area of his residence building at Togus last Monday, wearing a hat that bore the logo of the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

“He’s the man,” one of the nurses said as she approached him. Later, she said it was an honor to help take care of him and other veterans at the Togus facilities.

Paradis returned the praise.

“These people here treat me like royalty,” he said. “I love every one of ’em.”

Paradis was on guard duty at Pearl Harbor, serving as an Army medic, on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attacked the U.S. Naval base in Hawaii.

“I remember it was chaotic,” he said. “That night I heard a lot of stuff on the radio that they were … coming in (again).”

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“I slept beneath a 2 1/2-ton truck in case they decided to bomb us again,” he said. “They never did.”

The Pearl Harbor attack left 2,403 people dead and 1,143 wounded, according to the Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau. Four ships were sunk in the attack, which was the catalyst for the U.S. entry into World War II.

Megan Kon, Togus public affairs officer, said there are 497,000 living veterans from World War II out of the 16.1 million that served. Kon said 2,836 are living in Maine and 84 have had appointments at Togus since 2016.

Jim Paradis is shown in his late teens at two-week annual training, while he was a member of the Gardiner branch in the Maine Army National Guard.

After the attack, Paradis returned to the mainland and received training to become an Army Air Force pilot. He achieved the rank of major, the highest available to him without signing an indefinite contract.

He was a pilot for about 20 years, flying state-of-the-art planes – like the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Boeing B-29 Superfortress – over important military targets in World War II.

After the war, he flew the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, which was the largest aircraft in the world from 1946-1947 and the first intercontinental strategic bomber.

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The plane boasted a range of about 10,000 miles, according to the Federation of American Scientists. He said he soared at 50,000 feet with the plane, which was higher than any opposing plane could go.

“We did that because the Russians didn’t have anything that could reach us if they came to attack,” Paradis recalled. “We expected them to attack us; although they never did, we were prepared for them.”

He flew on missions more than 30 hours long. On his last mission, he was flying in blizzard conditions over Limestone’s Loring Air Force Base. He was low on fuel and in need of an emergency landing, but bases on the East Coast were closed.

“I came back and the whole East Coast was closed in tight,” Paradis said. “After swearing at them for awhile, they got a master sergeant out of bed and he talked me into the runway. We never saw a thing until we got off the airplane.”

Paradis said the lieutenant colonel at the base was adversarial to him when he tried to land, which led him to quit the service on the spot.

He finished the last few days of his commission in Fort Worth and later was stationed in Japan, when he made one final flight back to the U.S.

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Paradis grew up in Norridgewock, where he rode a horse to school. He moved to Monmouth after leaving the military, planting the roots for two generations of the Paradis family.

“I lived out in the country (in Norridgewock), about 4 miles from town,” he said. “I decided I wanted to go someplace else, so I bought a place in Monmouth.”

He co-founded a hot meal kitchen in Winthrop at St. Francis Church, which is still running, and was an air traffic controller at a remote control center in Nashua, New Hampshire.

He joined the Monmouth Lions Club shortly after it was founded in 1953. The club helps distribute eyeglasses, hearing aids and cellphones to Monmouth residents, maintains recreational trails and hosts a number of community meals. He was also a founding member of the Monmouth Knights of Columbus.

Paradis’s grandson Aaron is also a Lion in Monmouth. By referring his grandson to the club, James Paradis earned the Silver Centennial Membership Award. Guy Piper, Monmouth Lions Club membership chairperson, presented him with the award in October.

“He’s been a very valuable citizen in Monmouth,” Piper said, citing his diligence in working for the club on hunters’ breakfasts and Meals on Wheels programs.

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Aaron Paradis said that he was proud to have been referred to the group by his grandfather. Growing up, they would garden together.

“He was the one that used to take me to and from preschool,” he said. “Mostly, I remember him being one of the most generous people I’ve ever known.”

James Paradis’s son and Aaron’s father, Wayne Paradis, said his father instilled the importance of the military in him and inspired him to serve.

“He and I are both very proud of our time in the military,” Wayne Paradis said. “We talk very often about how we would do it all over again if we could.”

Sam Shepherd can be contacted at 621-5666 or at:

sshepherd@centralmaine.com

Twitter: SamShepME


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