Jack Shelley, Boone native and former WHO newscaster, was unanimously chosen by the Leadership Ames XVII Fourth of July committee to be this year’s parade grand marshal.

“I was glad to say yes,” Shelley said. “I am really looking forward to it with a great deal of pride. I was honored for that kind of recognition.”

At WHO, Shelley soon became the news director and went on to cover World War II in its final years.

“I covered battles all over Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, one of the largest battles in the war,” Shelley said.

“I got to interview the crew of the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, the Enola Gay,” he said.

Shelley was also aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri when the Japanese surrendered to the Allied forces.

Shelley’s work at WHO radio continued beyond the war.

“For 30 years, I was a news broadcaster at WHO radio. It was full of highlights. I enjoyed it a great deal,” Shelley said.

Shelly, 85, went to work for WHO in 1935 and was there until he took a job as a professor of journalism and communication at Iowa State in 1965.

Shelley began teaching journalism at Iowa State that year – something he did for the next 17 year.

“I [was] one of the only full-time professors without a Ph.D.,” Shelley said. “Not having a Ph.D. is something that’s now almost unheard of.”

Shelley said when he started at Iowa State, he worked with several new young men as teaching instructors. By the time he left, they were professionals in their field and the staff had changed so there was now two women to every one man.

In spring 1982, Shelley retired. Now he and his wife, Dorothy, reside in Ames.