Honoring Our Veterans – Gary “Ferg” Ferguson
 | Author:
Matt Nelson
MT43 News Correspondent |
Honoring Our Veterans – Gary “Ferg” Ferguson
Matt Nelson
Townsend Air Force Veteran Gary "Ferg" Ferguson was born in 1934 in Saskatchewan, Canada, but grew up in Montana. He spent 20 years and 3 weeks active in that branch of the military between 1953 and 1973. He was a flight crew chief on a lot of aircraft in England and served as a supervisor to four crew chiefs on F-86Ds Sabre jets, while stationed at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base near Manston, England, which is located near the North Sea.
At another time in his career, Ferg was a Flight crew chief in charge of T-33 jets and an assistant crew chief on B-52s at Walker AFB in New Mexico near Roswell, New Mexico. He once rode in the back seat of a T-33 jet and had the controls for about 30 minutes. The pilot told him to turn left and he put too much pressure on the stick and actually rolled the plane. Ferg’s brother is Mike Ferguson, who has had a lifetime of flying. Ferg laughed and said, “I did one thing my brother never did – I flew a jet!”
Once he went up on a RB-36 test flight while stationed at Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City, South Dakota. That plane looks similar to a B-29 and is big as a B-52. It has six 4360 prop engines and four J-47 jet engines. Ferg also served as a crew chief on two other Air Force fighters, the F-106, at Selfridge AFB in Michigan outside of Detroit, and the F-102 in Germany. He busted his knee up badly and was then placed in F-106 ejection systems for six years, two of which were in Maine and the other four years in Alaska at Elmendorf, outside of Anchorage.
Ferg started playing the guitar, singing, and writing his own songs in 1954, during his first year in the Air Force. He retired as an E-6 Tech Sargent, officially in Mindenhall, England. Previously he had been stationed in England for about three years and also had spent six months in Libya. He was in Anchorage when it was near his retirement time, but he could retire where he wanted. His wife was from near Mildenhall, Suffolk, England and at the time of his retirement Ferg had performances scheduled in Europe. At the same time, singer Tex Ritter was going on a tour in Europe, and Ferg traveled on the same circuit in England (but not with Tex Ritter). Besides England and Libya, Ferg has performed in Ireland, Wales, Germany, Luxemburg, Canada, and of course, the United States.
In Alaska, he served for four years as the Membership Chairman for the Country Music Association of Nashville. He was the DJ for the Alaskan Forces Network, and in 1972 reported back there for the 47th Anniversary of WSM and the Grand Old Opry in Nashville when Loretta Lynn was given the Entertainer of the Year Award by the Country Music Association (CMA). Besides being a member of the CMA, Ferg was also a member of the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Association.
While stationed in Maine, Johnny Cash’s brother Tommy came up to the Northern Maine State Fair, and Ferg played bass with him. Also, in Maine, Ferg was the president of the Northern Maine/New Brunswick Country Music Association. His song “Someone Hurt You” was on the charts in New Brunswick for a couple of weeks. When he was stationed in Michigan he had a song called “There Is No Answer” that was on the charts for 10 to 12 weeks.
Merle Haggard, Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Ray Price, and Jim Reeves were among his favorite country and western singers. His favorite song is “For The Good Times” by Ray Price.
After leaving the Air Force, Ferg also attended school at MSU in Bozeman, studying music and film and fine arts. He didn’t finish his degree, but while at MSU he started at the bar near the Four Corners area, and he ran that for several years. However, that didn’t stop his music career. He has recorded music for the American Heritage Music Corporation (AHMC).
Ferg is pretty well-known around the area. He and other local musicians have played at the Canton Church and the Serenity Retirement Home here in Townsend. He has also played at CENEX. From August 10th until the 13th Ferg played at the Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Western Music Rendezvous in Lewistown. He took with him his copies of a CD called “Ferg’s Favorites” which has a combination of his music and other well-known artists. He also said that with his voice range, he can sing lower and higher notes more than most people.
Interviewing Ferg was definitely a pleasure. When I left his house, he gave me a copy of “Ferg’s Favorites” and also a 33 RPM Long Playing record called “Think For Yourself” that he recorded five of his own songs and the others by Harlan Howard, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. I treasure both.
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Gary Ferguson
Image 1 Caption: Ferg is holding a photo of himself while serving in the United States Air Force.
Photo Credits: Gary Ferguson
Image 2 Caption: A 33 RPM LP album cover of "Think For Yourself"
Photo Credits: Gary Ferguson
