Major Earl D. Uhler, Jr. (Ret), 94, of Warrensburg, Missouri, died Dec. 9 at Western Missouri Medical Center.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, at the First Christian Church in Warrensburg with Pastor Jerry Basye officiating. Interment will follow in Sunset Hill Cemetery with full military honors. Pallbearers will be Chris Uhler, Michael Uhler, Rich Lawson, John Flynn and Larry Elliott. Honorary pallbearers will be Larry DesCombes, Vi Bielfeldt, Richard Dudley, Tom King, C. L. Holdren, Bob Russell, Gen. Paul Tibbets IV and Lynn Harmon. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. until service time Thursday at the church.

Earl had been an active and vibrant resident of the Warrensburg Veterans Home in Warrensburg for the past 18 months.

He was born Oct. 20, 1923, in Pikesville, Maryland, to Lt. Col. Earl D. and Blanche Duvall Uhler. He had one younger brother, Edwin “Ned” Uhler, who died this year, and his younger sister Nancy Uhler Waterman who died in 2009. He met his future wife, Janie Lou Russell, on Valentine’s Day 1945 when attending a basketball game in Morrow Gym at UCM. When he saw her the first time he told his friend, “I’m going to marry that girl.” He married Janie Lou Russell on Sept. 4, 1949, in the First Christian Church of Warrensburg. Janie Uhler died March 10, 2010. 

Earl attended high school in Baltimore at the Boy’s Latin School and then entered as a freshman to the University of Maryland in 1941. After the war, Earl graduated from the University of Maryland and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He played varsity lacrosse and freshman football for the Terrapins. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on Dec. 10, 1942, and took basic training at Miami Beach.

He went to Xavier University for pre-flight training. He took his flight training in late 1943 in San Antonio, Texas, and then reported to Sikeston, Missouri, for primary training in the PT-19, where he received his white pilot scarf for his first solo flight. He flew C-46 and C-47s in the China Burma India Campaign in the 14th and 10th Air Forces, flying Chinese troops, munitions and gasoline from Shanghai to Peiping (Beijing) and then to Manchuria through the Himalayas. Earl played halfback in the Army – Navy game on Dec. 1, 1945, held at the Palindrome in Shanghai, China, in front of 10,000 spectators. He successfully flew 20 CBI missions thanks to good navigators on the 530-mile “Hump” flight into China while based at Myitkyina, Burma. A veteran pilot once explained the “CBI takeoff” to newcomers: “If you can see the end of the runway through the rain and mist, then a takeoff is expected.”

He was in the 12th Combat Cargo Squadron and then in the 333rd Troop Carrier. He went around the world having flown a new C-47 from Florida to Burma with 11 stops on the way. After the war ended, he came back on an LST through San Francisco Bay and took a train back to Warrensburg.

Janie and Earl moved to Washington, D.C., for two years in 1947 and then back to Warrensburg, and then on to Marshall, Missouri, for two years in 1952. Earl worked for Russell Brothers and later at KOKO radio, the Gas Service Company, as a tax auditor for the state of Missouri, Associated Industries of Missouri, and was the broker-owner of Century 21 Real Estate in Warrensburg, and KLUK-KIX FM radio. Earl was active in community affairs, serving as Rotary Club president, (Paul Harris Fellow), Chamber of Commerce president – twice (his first time he was 28 years old and the youngest ever elected), AFA Air Force Association president – twice, lifelong Elks Member, American Legion commander and life member, UCM Mule Train, Community Development Council, Jaycees state president and state vice president (started Warrensburg Jaycee’s with Jim Whitfield), QB Club – Quiet Birdmen, VFW commander, Sunset Hill Cemetery Board, Warrensburg Flying Club, Retired Officer’s Association – life member, Daedalians, Warrensburg Canoe Club, Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., 2011, and he also participated in numerous military honor guards.

Earl loved Warrensburg, especially the Community Center and its staff and patrons. He went there often for his lunches and he worked out at least three days a week until he was 92 years old. He then continued to work out in the rehab center at the Missouri Veteran’s home, continuing until just two weeks before his passing.

Earl had gift of gab, was nicknamed “Yak” by his fraternity brothers and had a love for meeting people. He thrived on social contact, outings, going on picnics, and camping and canoeing with the Warrensburg Canoe Club. Earl loved watching and cheering on the Mules and Jennies.

Earl missed flying and enlisted in the Missouri National Guard as pilot in 1961 and went to back to basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, at the age of 37. He flew for the MO ARNG 635th Aviation Co. At the age of 47, Earl was sent to Fort Rucker, Alabama, to the to earn his helicopter certification, which he flew until retiring from Missouri Army National Guard Company D, 38th Aviation Battalion. At the age of 60, as a warrant officer, he took his last flight as a military pilot flying his “Huey” UH-1 at Whiteman AFB. He was awarded a Major Leaf and the Army Master’s Pilot Wing. He was certified for commercial, instrument, multi-engine and helicopters. He loved to fly.

He leaves behind his daughter, Jill Uhler, and her husband, Marvin Buford, of Ft. Myers, Florida; Bruce and Margareta Uhler of Nybro, Sweden; grandchildren, Sgt. Chris Uhler of Kalmar, Sweden; Michael Uhler, of Lund, Sweden; and Emily Uhler of Stockholm, Sweden. He also leaves behind his nieces and nephews: Russ, Judy, Sally, Dean, Eric, Tod, Candace, Sue, Chris and Amy, along with countless friends. 

Earl loved the people and town of Warrensburg, Missouri. He often repeated the comment of how lucky and blessed he was to have so many good friends, to live so long, and that he had a great family and wife.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the Warrensburg Veterans Home, the First Christian Church of Warrensburg, or the American Legion Post 131 and can be left in care of Sweeney-Phillips & Holdren Funeral Home.