Master Sergeant Robert Daniel Jasper's journey on this earth began on July 10, 1931. He was one of five children born to loving parents; the late William Thomas Jasper and Marion Jasper Washington, in Washington, District of Columbia. He was educated in the D.C. public school system. In 1951, at the young age of nineteen, Robert (affectionately known as Bob) joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served our country faithfully until his retirement in 1978. While in the military he attended Naval Air Training School in 1960 and graduated number 77 in a class of 243. Thereafter he joined helicopter squad HMM 162. This assignment required him to spend four months in Okinawa Japan and eight months in Vietnam. Before going overseas, Bob became a Crew Chief and earned his Air Crew Wings. He also earned eleven Air Medals during this tour. An award was granted on August 30, 1964, which states: "Be it hereby known to all men everywhere that Robert D. Jasper, having served faithfully, honorably and bravely as an aircrew member of HMM 162 while engaged in mortl combat with many accursed Viet Cong Guerrillas, is permanently designated a Combat Air Crewman. Bob returned to the States in 1965 and was stationed at Marine Corp Air Facility in Santa Ana California. He was later promoted to Staff Sergeant and given the job as Naval Aviation Training Operations Standardization (NATOPS). Bob was awarded a Bronze Star in 1967 for a rescue mission in which his squad went into a zone under enemy's fire and brought out six wounded marines. During this mission he was instrumental in organizing and putting into operation an aerial gunner school for MAG-36 and was awarded a Letter of Commendation from the Commanding General, First Marine Air Wing. He was later promoted to Master Sergeant and assigned to Marines Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay Hawaii as Helicopter Maintenance Chief for a year before returning to the States and retiring in 1978.