POLLOCK MELVIN W

CPT Melvin "Mel" W Pollock was a VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 04/21/2023 at the age of 88.5
Hurst, TX
Flight Classes 61-7 and 62-1
Date of Birth 10/08/1934
Served in the U.S. Army
Served in Vietnam with 57 TC CO in 63, 120 AHC in 63-64
This information was provided by Obit

More detail on this person: Melvin W. Pollock, 88, passed away April 21, 2023. He was born in Central Texas and was the oldest of three boys and three girls born to Bill and Tommye Pollock. Burial will be in his home town of Santa Anna, Texas. He attended public school in Santa Anna, Texas followed by McMurry College in Abilene, Texas. In November, 1959, he enlisted in the United States Army with the expressed purpose of learning to fly helicopters. He received his commission from Artillery and Missile Officer Candidate School in 1960. He completed fixed wing flight and instrument school at Ft. Rucker, Alabama in 1961 and was one of three in his flight class to go directly to helicopter qualification at Ft. Wolters. In 1949, one month after his fifteenth birthday, he originally enlisted in the Texas National Guard, 36th Division, and achieved the rank of Sgt 1st Class prior to active duty. His six years of active duty included a deployment on the Cuban Missile Crises with the 1st Armored Division in 1962 and service in Vietnam with the 57th/120th Helicopter Company in 1963/1964. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. In 1965, Mel was briefly employed by Southern Airways as a primary helicopter flight instructor at Ft. Wolters, Texas when he was recruited by Pan American World Airways in the Aerospace Services Division. He and his family moved to a NASA research range at Ft. Churchill, Manitoba on the Western shore of the Hudson Bay in Northern Canada. He flew both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft providing logistic support, recovery of rocket nose-cones and high altitude research balloon packages. At the age of thirty-one, he became Pan American Airways' youngest chief pilot. After three years with Pan Am, Mel and his family returned to Texas. He joined Bell Helicopter as a production test pilot, later moved into the training center as an instructor pilot, and then into marketing as a demonstration pilot. Prior to retirement, he was the worldwide marketing manager for police and fire departments and was the first civilian to serve on the Board of Directors of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association. Mel retired from flying December 31, 1999 from a flying career that spanned thirty nine years that he said had never really been work. Even in the long tiring days there was always the accomplishment and the pleasure of the flight. His flying career allowed him to travel the world and meet many people and make many friends. Mel is survived by Pat, his wife of 62 years, and two daughters, two sons, eleven grandchildren, one grandchild, one brother and three sisters.

Burial information: Santa Anna, TX

This information was last updated 05/01/2023

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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