KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Don Davis joined the Army to help him pay for school, but his short stint in the military set him up for a lifetime of service to others.

“I wanted to go to ETSU and didn’t have any money, and it was very cheap back then to go to school, and they suggested I go talk to the recruiter,” Davis said.

Davis joined the Army in 1959 and worked in the armored division, helping to get supplies to the frontlines. But then there was an accident.

“I was riding in the back of a deuce and a half truck, big truck, and it ran off the road in a ditch and I flew into the side and busted my head,” said Davis. “I can still feel it right there. It’s got a little ditch in my head.”

He had to stay back while the rest of his division went to Turkey and ultimately, Vietnam.

“They put me in a training thing. That was a personal finance. So I had an administrative job after that,” Davis said.

He got out and finished school at East Tennessee State University using the GI Bill and was working at Eastman. He moved his way up and retired from the Chemical Company after 31 years.

“I got retired. I said, ‘Well, I’ve got to find something to do,'” Davis said. “I knew the Red Cross people, [and] had done a little bit work with them anyway, and so that started disaster work– going to Florida, Texas mostly the coast hurricanes.”

Davis has been all over working with The Red Cross, but when Helene hit, he used his experience in his home region as the lead volunteer for getting information to elected officials.

“That is very hard work,” Davis said. “Red Cross does a beautiful job of responding to any kind of disaster or a home fire that you may have, are sheltering during Hurricane Helene.”

Davis also has a hobby of woodworking, which led to him having two dulcimers at the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was volunteering with the Red Cross for tornado recovery when he met another veteran couple who were also helping. They had a connection to the museum and said it was in need.

“So I said, ‘Well, I think I can make them. I got the wood and all that stuff,'” Davis said. “It’s pretty neat.”

The dulcimers are used at the Taylor Swift Education Center. Davis also uses his woodworking skills to help other organizations, including the YMCA in Kingsport, where he also volunteers.