Joe's wartime heritage also includes a "Greatest Generation" soldier, Uncle Meryl Kelley, buried at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.
And Joe's bride of 51 years, Barbara, is herself the daughter of an Army NCO who was posted to Puerto Rico.
When likely draftee Elliott was weighing his options in the seminal year of 1969, he had done his homework. "Simply," he said, "the Army offered me the best deal: telephone switchboard repairman."
Joe's six-year, eclectic adventure in olive drab had begun, and was to include stops at Fort Gordon, Ga.; schooling (and instructing) at Fort Monmouth, N.J.; almost two years in Germany (including a stint living on the Bavarian border); a memorable Vietnam tour for which he volunteered; and finally a posting to Fort Bragg, N.C., where, now a salty captain, he was the oldest student in his Jump School class.