Orangeburg County Community of Character: Veteran feels ‘obligation to serve and to assist’

His wife, Brenda, says “He’s the kind of person that doesn’t want any recognition or any acknowledgement. He’ll do what he has to do and he’ll stay in the background.”

Although quiet, the 79-year-old Jamerson has many stories to tell about his life-long commitment to service, inside and outside of the military.

Jamerson was recognized by the Orangeburg County Community of Character initiative for embodying the July character trait: patriotism.

He served in the military for a combined total of over 28 years, with more than seven years on active duty. He was deployed to Korea during the 1970s. Later, in the 1990s, he was assigned to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield.

But to Jamerson, the term “patriot” is not solely reserved for soldiers. He says patriotism is displayed in military service and civilian service through “the things that I work towards for the benefit of others.”

He describes patriotism as “being dedicated to serve your country and those ideas that you believe in.”

A longtime resident of Orangeburg, Jamerson graduated from then-South Carolina State College in 1968.

Mrs. Jamerson recalls seeing him drive other students from the bus station onto campus.

“I saw him, but I don’t think he saw me. The next time I saw him was at the library, and I said to myself, ‘That’s a good man there and that’s a man I’d like to be married to.’

“I’m gonna tell you who that patriot really is. When he sees situations in the news with national government or city government, he may not be out there marching but he gives his opinions and his thoughts to the right people in the right way. I think he’s well thought of around the state of South Carolina,” she said.

During his 21 years in the U.S. Army Reserve, Jamerson worked with the South Carolina State Employee Association, where he lobbied for benefits for state employees and retirees. He was the director of memberships and services and later became the executive director of the SCSEA.

“It was a tremendous opportunity to help and assist enforcing good things for fellow human beings. The most gratifying thing was to travel the state and to interact with state employees and retirees of all levels,” he said.

Jamerson’s value to the SCSEA was evident. Former co-workers nominated him for South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto, which he received from then-Gov. Nikki Haley in 2011.

Jamerson considers patriotism to be a value, as well as “honesty, looking out for my fellow man and helping them wherever I can, and being the best God-fearing individual that I can be.”

He says those values can be attributed to mottos his grandparents instilled in him.

As a child, his grandmother would sing, “When a task has just begun, never leave it till it’s done. Be the labor great or small, do it well child or don’t do it at all.”

His grandfather would say to him, “Son, be willing to follow anybody, just don’t let anybody lead you.”

“I think that if you can lock that into your daily doing, then it will all work out fine. It connects to your religious belief, also. If you’re a Christian or you’re striving to be a Christian, once you make that your primary focus, everything else falls in place,” Jamerson said.

A deacon of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Orangeburg, Jamerson says the biblical story of the Good Samaritan is about “doing for others and looking out for other folks’ well-being.”

Jamerson currently serves as the vice chair of the Orangeburg County Elections Commission, which oversees all elections held within the county.

“One of the greatest privileges that each individual citizen has is the right and opportunity to vote. I cannot tell a person who to vote for, but I will say this: There’s only one bad vote and that’s a no vote,” he said.

He says “feeling the obligation to serve and to assist” is a part of his everyday life.