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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Joe Finch was born August 6 , 1945 - the day we dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He spent formative years in Arizona, Morocco, Greece and Spain before returning to Tucson to attend college. Drafted as a private in 1966, Finch rose through the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel earning numerous combat and peacetime awards including the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Following graduation from helicopter flight school in 1968, Joe flew two tours in Southeast Asia. During his one-year tour in Vietnam, Joe flew 1269 hours in every type of helicopter mission known at that time including 409 hours of night gunship time. He also flew medical evacuation missions extracting over 800 wounded soldiers.
In 1970 he transferred to Thailand where he flew numerous covert missions into Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. In July 1970 he led a humanitarian medical evacuation effort in Hua Hin, Thailand, following a typhoon that swept thousands of people into the gulf of Thailand. The King of Thailand personally presented each of Finch's crewmembers with the Thai Red Cross medal of appreciation, and Thai Border Police flight wings.
Medically retired in 1990 following a near fatal accident, he recovered and eventually joined the Amphibious Systems team at General Dynamics where he served as the Environmental Engineer. Joe helped lead the General Dynamics Amphibious Systems team to nine national level awards for environmental protection.
The author of "Angel's Wing" A Year in the Skies of Vietnam . He pursues a wide variety of activities including helping other people get their works published, working with veterans groups and the American Legion. He serves as historian for two Veterans organizations, is a Researcher at the National Archives, and has presented motivational and informational talks to the public at Libraries, schools, bookstores, churches, historical sites and restaurants across the country.