More detail on this person: Helicopter crash at
Ft Benning while acting as a co-pilot. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
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When I was stationed at Hunter as an enlisted Air
Traffic Controller, I came to know and respect
John Putnam when he was training to be a Pilot at
HAAF in 1969. During those training days, John
and a few of his pilot friends all banned together
with some of the enlisted Air Traffic Controllers.
I know it was rare but we were a band of brothers,
enlisted and WO candidates. Actually we were
pretty inseparable. John graduated as a WO in the
top 10% of his class and was selected to attend
Cobra training. I will always remember how proud
he was on that day.
John graduated from Cobra school and was sent
immediately to Vietnam with the 1st Cav. Right
after that I received my orders to Nam (4th ID
call sign Spader Control) and as usual we lost
touch. I was notified of John's death while
attending college by another Pilot that knew John.
I was informed he died in a flight accident while
at Ft. Benning, Lawson Army Airfield.
I remain honored to have known him even for that
short time in spring and summer of 1969.
From: Richard DeVos