Scope and Contents

The collection consists of approximately 3 linear feet of materials documenting Specialist Jon Steven Hemmeter's U.S. Army service as a microwave radio operator with 362nd Signal Company, 1st Signal Brigade in Vietnam. The materials include R&R records; postcards; flyers and pamphlets; short timer calendars; ID cards; vaccination certificates; service records; installation clearance records; military orders; travel orders and vouchers; physical fitness testing records; writings; biographical information; artifacts; memos and correspondence; notebooks; photographs; slides; bulletins; certificates; and clippings. The materials are dated 1968-1975, 1984, 2016, or are otherwise undated.

Biographical / Historical

Jon Steven Hemmeter was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Rincon High School in 1966. While a freshman at the University of Arizona Tucson in 1969, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He went to basic training at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas and then Signal Corps training at Fort Monmouth in Monmouth County, New Jersey. He then served a tour of duty in Vietnam as a microwave radio operator with 362nd Signal Company, 1st Signal Brigade. During his tour, he took an R&R trip to Sydney, Australia. He was honorably discharged from the military at the rank of Specialist 5 in 1971.

Following his military service, Hemmeter earned a BA in 1973 from the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts, School of Theatre, Film, and Television. He pursued a career in acting, directing, and stagecraft in Tucson, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas but felt the years he taught theater at Tucson High Magnet School were his greatest achievement.