More detail on this person: My name is Stuart
Whitehurst and I write to you today about my
favorite uncle, Henry "Mickey" Dirska of the 1st
Air Cavalry. Uncle Mickey was a fine soldier and a
warm wonderful man. My memories of him when I
was 8-10 years old were seeing him at Christmas
time, in his dress greens and that wonderful
yellow patch on his shoulder. He was incredibly
proud to serve, and we at home were incredibly
proud of him. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
11/02/2023
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My memories are vague, as I am a 51 year old man
now....but the story I remember was that my Uncle
Mickey was nicknamed that because there were
three other Henrys and he had ears that stuck out
like Mickey Mouse when he was a youngster. I was
told that my uncle enlisted, and went to
Vietnam.
After making Sergeant, he scored well on some
technical exams and was asked if he wanted to
learn to fly fixed wing aircraft (0-1 Bird dogs).
Never one to turn down a challenge, he accepted.
After many missions in the fixed wing aircraft,
WO1 Dirska was asked if he would like to learn to
fly helicopters. Again, he volunteered and went on
to become a Medivac Pilot (although I can not
remember his specific unit). I recall him showing
pictures of a Huey with a red cross on the side.
My recollection is that he flew missions for 2
tours in hostile airspace.
The remainder of his military history is not known
to me, not the least of which is his unit,
theaters of operation and exact years of service.
I do know that he was stateside and attached to
the Letterkenny Army Depot (now a Capt.)when he
was killed while attempting a landing at a
refueling stop in OK (Gage airport) in rainy
weather on 11 December, 1975. He was 33 years of
age and survived by his wife Connie and 3
children. Here is a link to the news article
http://www.armyaircrews.com/fixed.html
Henry "Mickey" Dirska was my uncle (brother to my
great aunt Elsie Dirska (married name Loisage) so
perhaps he was my great uncle(cousin?)? He
seemed much too young to be called that...as he
was just 18 years my senior. In the Dirska family
(also spelled Dirschka by some members) there
were 3 Henry's and 3 Freds....nicknames were
common and it took years for me to figure out what
some of their "real" names were. Also, I believe
that his widow Connie is still living in
Chambersburg MD. though I have not been able to
reach her.
From: Stuart Whitehurst