During World War II, Willard A. Palmer joined the Army Air Corps and was stationed in San Antonio. Here, he taught Navigation, Physics, Mathematics and German, in addition to performing on accordion as the soloist with a number of prominent local ensembles. His subsequent accordion career may be divided into three segments - performer, composer and educator. In each area, he distinguished himself sufficiently so that others might have called it a full, successful career in itself. But Palmer always went on to do more.