KALLEM DONALD J

1LT Donald J Kallem was a potential member who died during training before going to Vietnam on 08/09/1967 at the age of 23.7 from A/C accident
Ft. Carson, CO
Flight Class 67-6
Date of Birth 11/11/1943
Served in the U.S. Army
This information was provided by 195 AHC 2nd Plat website

More detail on this person: Killed in a training accident with the 195 AHC at Ft. Carson before they deployed to Bien Hoa, RVN. with John A. Clark.

Two Ft. Carson men, one a recent bridegroom were killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash in a pasture east of Fountain.

Killed were 1st Lt. Donald J. Kallem, 23, the pilot, and WO John A. Clark, 21. They were the only two crew members aboard the turbo-jet UH-1D (Huey) helicopter.

Kallem was married July 8. His widow lives in Manitou Springs.

The helicopter crashed about two and a half hours after it took off from Butts Army Air Field on a routine operational training flight.

Ft. Carson spokesmen said this morning that it will be sometime before it can be determined what happended.

Eyewitnesses said they saw the rotor explode off the copter, but there was no sound of an explosion.

Wreckage was scattered over a half-mile area. The torso of one body was found in the burned-out craft. The other body was found about 75 feet away from the wreckage.

The crash occurred on the Andy Kane Ranch on Squirrel Creek Road, about seven miles east of Fountain.

A crew from the El Paso County Road Department witnessed the descent of the crash. One man told authorities that he saw the rotor lift from the craft as the helicopter plunged behind a hill. He did not see the crash itself.

A motorist witnessed the separation of the rotor from the craft and watched as the Huey crashed to the earth and burst into flames.

The accident happened shortly before noon Wednesday.

Kallem who entered the Army in 1961, was assigned to Ft. Carson in May of this year. In addition to his widow, he is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Kallem of DeKalb, Ill.

Clark was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold A. Clark of Napa, Calif.

The Huey is being used in Vietnam and can carry 11 pasengers in additon to the crew.

From: Gazette Telegraph Copter Crash Kills Ex-DeKalb Pilot DE KALB - Lt. Donald J Kallem, 23, a former DeKalb resident, was killed Wednesday when the helicopter he was piloting crashed and burned on a training flight near Colorado Springs, Colo. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kallem, 420 S. 9th St. A 1961 graduate of DeKalb High School, he was married to Roberta Lee Heming one month before his death. They lived in Colorado Springs. Military spokesmen said the UHID (Huey) exploded in mid-air and crashed on a ranch 8 miles east of Fountain, Colo. The craft was similar to the type used in Vietnam for combat assault missions. Officials at Ft. Carson, where the craft was based, said it would take three or four days to gather the pieces of the craft so the cause of the crash could be determined. Warrant Officer John A. Clark, 21, Napa, Calif., who was acting as co-pilot, was also killed in the crash. Funeral arrangements for Kallem are pending in Colorado Springs.

Burial information: Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, CO

This information was last updated 01/15/2019

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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