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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