More detail on this person: Donald (Don)
Hildreth age: 74 died: Jan. 18, 2005 at Lady Lake,
FL from Cancer. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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
Don graduated in Sept. 1965 as a member of flight
class 56-10. He was selected to remain at Ft.
Rucker to instruct in the H-13. He became a
member of the OH-13 Sq. Dance team and
performed in many shows. He later went to Korea to
join the 6th Trans Co. flying H-21's. He returned
to Ft. Rucker for fixed wing qualification and
then to Alaska where he participated in rescue
missions with the 65th Avn Bn. He returned to Ft.
Bragg as a H-34 instructor pilot with the 6th Spc
Forces Group. In July 1965 he joined the 1st Cav
Div, 227th Avn Bn at An Khe just long enough to be
awarded several Air Medals and the purple heart.
On 14 Oct. 1965 a round went through his face
shield injuring his left eye and ending his flying
career.
Don retired as a W-3 in Sept. of 1967 and moved to
Lady Lake, FL and set out trying to conquer the
golf courses in that area. He will be missed by
all his friends on the greens in that area as well
as his many aviation friends around the world.
Survivors: Daughters; Susan I. Sweeney, Cotuit,
MA, Cynthia A. Carnegie of France; mother Ethel
Dinsmore, Easton, MA; brother John Dinsmore,
Lyndonville, VT; sister Susan Burdette, Mesa, AZ
and three grandchildren.
From: James R Oden