More detail on this person: Natural causes at the VA Hospital in Loma Linda, CA.Harry F.
Askildsen from Highland, California is my father. He had two daughters. My sister Kelley
Askildsen, born in `66 and myself Cara Askildsen, born in `69. He is still so alive in my heart but
unfortunately died of natural causes in `90 at age 41. He was extraordinary, fascinating,
successful in business, AMAZING.... but he had a strong liking for alchohol and chose to have a
delicate surgery around his liver that he did not survive. I miss him so much and have needed him
so many days to show me "HOW THE CROWS IT THE CORN" he would say, or "WAKE UP, YOU'RE
WASTING YOUR LIFE AWAY", at 6:30 in the morning on a Sunday. He was a man who always had a
buck knife strapped to his ankle under a three-piece suit, would just as soon kill ya' as look at
you, but risk his life for a stranger. He is a HERO. Always a hero and when it really counted he
was truly a superhero. I recall driving down Euclid Ave. in Upland where we lived and the rains
caused deep floods rushing down the street that swept a woman up and carried her a block or so to
where my Dad saw her first, she was hanging on and ready to go into the drainage gutter and he must
not of thought twice about the situation because before I knew what was going on there was my Dad IN
ACTION saving this woman's life up to his waist in water. It was cool. She never even said thank
you he said. He saved her life. She was drowning. Oh well. It was cool. My father, (Cpt.) Harry
F. Askildsen was born August 15, 1947 and died at Loma Linda Veterans Hospital in Loma Linda,
California on June 2, 1990. He is buried at Riverside National Cemetary in Riverside, California.
He was a Cobra Pilot. I have his helmets and jumpsuits, flight maps of Vietnam, manuals and flight
ring, photos of him and others in Vietnam, year book, field manuals, as well as his medals and other
military things that he always kept. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
08/31/2024
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
From: Cara Dawn Askildsen