More detail on this person: Glenn La-Marr Hartman was born 11 April 1938 in Chattanooga, TN and passed away 30 August 2016 in San Marcos, TX. He graduated from high school in Odessa, TX and enlisted in the US Navy in 1955 for 4-years. A few months after leaving the Navy, he enlisted in the US Army. He served much of his time prior to flight school at Fort Wainwright, AK. He married Gay Ann Roket on 23 May 1964 in Tacoma, WA. He was an SSGT in the NCO Academy when he was accepted into the Warrant Officer Candidate program. He started with class 67-13 and graduated with 67-17. Gay recalls that their daughter, Marla, was born 28 Nov 1966 ~ the day Glenn (she calls him La-Marr) soloed at Fort Wolters. His first duty assigned after receiving his wings was C Troop (Air), 2/17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY. Glenn and a few others from class 67-17 would be some of the last troopers needed to bring C Troop up to strength as the 101st had recently been alerted for Vietnam deployment. Only a few months earlier, C Troop had just a handful of men and one helicopter, an OH-23, that it would not take to Vietnam. When Glenn joined it was receiving equipment almost on a daily basis, had a full complement of men, and an exhausting training schedule. Of the approximately 150 men in C Troop, only Major Jack Frost (the Troop Commander), Captain (on the promotion list for Major) Terry Glover (the Operations Officer), CW3 Bob Kinlaw (the Maintenance Officer), and 1st Sergeant Turner had been to Vietnam. All the rest was "green stuff" as Major Frost was quick to say. Perhaps because he had been in the military more than a decade at that point and certainly "knew the system," he was assigned to the maintenance and supply area with the secondary duty as Property Book Officer. While the Army is generally quick to deliver even hard to find TO&E equipment to priority units scheduled for deployment, every unit always had "scroungers" that "acquired" extra "stuff" like a Coke machine, a few new ceramic flush toilets, lots of fans, plus a wide array of tools and almost too many extra parts of M-60 machine guns. Being an old NCO with a knack for "creativity" and with Major Frost's encouragement plus lots of extra space in the CONEX containers, Glenn "had lots of fun" as C Troop prepared to go to Vietnam. Luckily for Glenn (and C Troop), Bob Kinlaw and a Tech Inspector, SP6 Lentz, were very good maintenance men. They must have taught Glenn well because he stayed in helicopter maintenance for the rest of his career in the Army and later with Bell Helicopter in Arlington. Just as C Troop was ready to deploy in July, 1968, it was reflagged C Troop, 7th Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry and went into Pleiku and hence to Camp Enari to join the rest of the Squadron that had been supporting the 4th Infantry Division since September 1967. Glenn flew Hueys and served in maintenance until the end of 1968 when as part of the DEROS shuffle he was transferred to the 57th AHC at Camp Holloway and Kontum. He really loved those guys and the walls of his office are lined with Cougar memorabilia. He departed Vietnam in July 1969 and was stationed at Fort Richardson, AK. Glenn Hartman Jr. was born there in August 1970. Glenn retired from the Army as a CW3 at Fort Lewis, WA in May, 1977. After trying a few small businesses he really wanted to fly again, so in the 1990s he went to work for Bell Helicopter and stayed with them for 12 years. About 2005 he relocated to Wimberly, TX. Again he had lots of fun - raised goats, kept bees, planted fruit trees, had a large green house and plants everywhere, harvested deer (they are a nuisance in this part of Texas ~ but make very nice sausage!). He did not talk much about his time in the Army. Once Marla asked him what he did in Vietnam. She recalls that he just smiled and said, "I fixed stuff." And that was that. He was a Life Member of the VHPA. He attended the Atlanta Reunion in 1992 with many C Troopers. He attended 57th AHC Reunions. Sadly Glenn had a long history of lower intestinal medical issues that runs in his family. Like many of us, he didn't like hospitals much at all. In late August when he finally went in, the infection had advanced much too far to be stopped. The family had him cremated. They held a lovely memorial service at his house on Friday, 23 September. The Honor Guard from Fort Sam Houston provided an especially impressive tribute. Submitted by Mike Law who deployed to Vietnam with Glenn in C Troop.
This information was last updated 09/19/2016
Please send additions or corrections to: HQ@vhpa.org VHPA Headquarters
Return to the Helicopter Pilot DAT name list
Return to VHPA web site
Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association