We ask that you spend 50 seconds of your time watching the video clip below to get you in the mood for this post:

If you’ve served time in the armed forces (and thank you for your service), chances are that your drill instructor referred to recruits who needed extra training as “gomers.’ If you’re of a certain age, you might remember when “shazaam,” “golly” (said drawn out with a southern drawl) and “surprise surprise surprise” were iconic buzz words. What they all have in common is “Gomer Pyle,” a character created by Jim Nabors.  It’s said that “Gomer” is the only fictional character is history to receive a promotion in real life: to honorary lance corporal by James L. Jones in 2001, Marine Corp commandant, and then to honorary corporal by Lt. Gen. John, F. Goodman in 2007.

Before the character was spun off to a have show of its own, Gomer Pyle was a character introduced in the middle of the third season of The Andy Griffith Show. “Gomer” was an auto mechanic with a gentle soul, not all that different from the actor who played him.

We don’t know how many season were spent watching the character before anyone heard this voice come out of him:

That rich baritone voice saw Nabors put out 46 albums and hold a number of honors, including singing “Back Home Again in Indiana at the beginning of the Indianapolis 500 race for 35 years.  His last appearance in 2014 was when he was 84 years old!

Nabors was a hopeless dog lover, the owner of “Daisy,” Gypsy,” “Barney,” and “Lulu,” his Staffordshire Terriers (all named after characters from The Andy Griffith Show). “They’re the smartest, sweetest, most loyal dogs you’ll ever see,” he once said. “They’re just like people; they need to be raised with love.”

Nabors lived in Hawaii for many years, and every July 3rd, he and his pilot, Stan, “loaded the dogs up onto a twin engine plane to fly to Maui. The reason was simple: Because the dogs are frightened of fireworks, they were flown to a quieter place.

We lost Jim on 2017 at the age of 87. The United States Marine Corps released this statement: “Semper Fi, Gomer Pyle. Rest in peace Jim Nabors, one of the few to ever be named an Honorary Marine.”