Following fits but not verified to smokejumping:
Paul Eugene Needham was born on August 19, 1929, in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He married on January 16, 1954. He had two children during his marriage. He died on March 19, 2000, in Bumpass, Virginia, at the age of 70, and was buried in Lemay, Missouri.

He was in the USAF with the rank of Colonel and served in Korea and Vietnam. The main connection in the NSA database is name with middle initial and date of death. Paul is also shown in the Iowa State University yearbook in 1949 and 1951 and was in the Forestry Club.