Foil: 6 Panel: Distinguished Flying Cross Society Column: 3 Line: 49

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

I was born and raised in San Francisco, California. I grew up during WWII and the Korean War, which molded my thoughts about what we Americans are all about. I felt I needed to go and help our troops. I was a young teenager in the Korean conflict but not old enough to join the military. The war arrived at the current "cease fire" and I was a senior in high school when a buddy of mine and I were walking down Mission Street and passed an Army recruiting station. The recruiter said the Army would send me to auto mechanic school if I enlisted. However, he said if you pass the aptitude test with a high score you will be sent to aircraft mechanic school, not auto mechanic!
The Army accepted me and assigned me to Aircraft Mechanic School. After aircraft mechanic school I was sent back to California after graduation. I was only there about 3 months when I was told I was being shipped with my airplane to Mexico. The 180 days of duty turned into 2 years! I was honorably discharged. But my unit commander in Mexico wanted me to stay in the active Army and apply for Officer Candidate School (OCS). I reenlisted and applied for OCS. I was accepted and Flight School came 2 years later.
I went to Fixed Wing Flight School and completed it successfully. Vietnam was becoming a hot place to send our troops and I was sent to a newly forming Aviation company. This company was being assigned the newest airplane in the Army inventory, the Caribou. I spent the entire year flying all over Vietnam in support of various missions. I returned to the U.S. and was assigned to Fort Benning Georgia. I wasn't there but 10 months when I received orders to go off on a secret mission! That mission was to fly a sailplane that Lockheed was using to explore ways to make an airplane "quiet"! The military application was to fly it at night in areas thought to contain the enemy. The aircraft was silent to anyone on the ground when the plane was at or above 1,000 feet above the ground. The airplane was flown at very slow speed, nominally 60 MPH. Although the flight envelope placed the aircraft and crew in a dangerous environment; the concept was validated and a follow-on airplane was designed and built for deployment to Vietnam. I was the Army Aviation officer that followed the new aircraft until it was deployed to Vietnam. The aircraft was named YO-3A. I was not deployed with the new aircraft. I was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for my efforts/contributions in validating the "Quiet Airplane" and the combat concept for its use.