Graveside service for longtime Lawton resident CSM (Retired) Jack Jenkins Oates, 80 will be at 11:00 AM Monday, June 13, 2011 at Fort Sill National Cemetery, Elgin with Rev. Delbert Hughes, pastor of Lighthouse Church of God and Terry Oates officiating. Sergeant Major Oates died Tuesday, June 7, 2011 in Lawton. Burial with full military honors will be under the direction of Becker Funeral Home & Cremation Service. The family will receive friends from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM on Sunday at the funeral home. He was born June 9, 1930 in Dallas, North Carolina where he attended school. He joined the Army and underwent basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Upon completion of basic training, he attended the 5th Division Leadership School. From there he went to the 33rd Field Artillery in Germany. After three years he returned to the states to marry Ina Ruth Rhinehart on October 21, 1951 in York, South Carolina. They returned to Germany and were there for three more years. He was promoted to the grade of 1st Sergeant, to be one of the youngest ever promoted to that grade in the Army. From Germany he and his family moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to be assigned to the 663rd Field Artillery, equipped with the 280mm Gun, the largest in the Army. He was there for one year and then moved with the unit to Okinawa, Japan. He and his family were there for three years and then was assigned to Fort Knox working with a unit supporting the Armor School. He was promoted to the Grade of E8 and then was moved to Germany to a unit equipped with the Redstone Missile. From this assignment he returned to the states to be assigned to the Fort Sill Officer Candidate School. He was a 1st Sergeant and a Sergeant Major there. He was on the West Point Examining Board. Also he was actively involved in the expansion of OCS to 12 batteries to support the need of officers in the Army. After three years he was assigned to the 1st Battalion 30th Field Artillery in Vietnam, a unit primarily in support of the 1st Cavalry Division. Here he was promoted to the grade of Sergeant Major. From there he returned to Fort Sill to be assigned to the 7th Training Battalion, Artillery Training Center. Here he was promoted to Command Sergeant Major and moved to Germany to the 1st Battalion 28th Field Artillery. After two years he was assigned to Vietnam, later returning to Fort Sill. Here he was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 28th Field Artillery, 175 mm gun. He was moved to Sergeant Major 1st Battalion 31st Field Artillery and then to Command Sergeant Major 75th Field Artillery Group. He was moved to the 71st Air Defense Artillery Battalion in Korea. After a one year tour he was returned to Fort Sill as Command Sergeant Major 14th Aviation Battalion and then Command Sergeant Major of the Aviation Command, later to be Command Sergeant Major of the Training Command. In this assignment he was instrumental in the planning for and the establishment of basic training at Fort Sill. He retired in 1975 after 27 years of military service. He then joined the Civil Service at Fort Sill as the Supply Technician Petroleum Officer, here he was to be for 13 years. A highlight of duty here was to help plan the logistical support required to receive, house and move 20,000 Cuban refugees to destinations throughout the United States. He retired from Civil Service in 1989 and remained in Lawton. He was an avid golfer and a crappie fisherman. He was a member of the Lighthouse Church of God. He was a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is survived by his wife, of the home, two sons, Samuel Oates and Terry Oates and his wife Shirley, two grandchildren, Joshua Oates and his wife Maria and Sarah Oates, all of Lawton, two brothers, Bill Oates and his wife Sis, Stanley, North Carolina and Charles Thornberg, Gastonia, North Carolina, and two sisters, Carolyn Haas and her husband Phillip, Dallas, North Carolina and Geraldean Hoover, Winter Haven, Florida. He is preceded in death by his father, Boyce Oates, his mother, Edna Mae Oates-Thornberg, his step-father, William Thornberg, and two sisters, Helen Cloninger and Becky Clippard.