PUTNAM JOHN KINSLEY #1

1LT John Kinsley Putnam was a potential VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 11/04/1971 at the age of 22.9 from A/C Accident
Ft. Benning, GA
Flight Class 69-7
Date of Birth 12/20/1948
Served in the U.S. Army
Served in Vietnam with B/2/20 ARA 1 CAV in 69-70
This information was provided by Richard DeVos, TAGCEN Casualty database.

More detail on this person: Helicopter crash at Ft Benning while acting as a co-pilot.

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

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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