PLUDE HARRY A #2

WO1 Harry A Plude died after flight school but did not serve as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam on 10/30/2011 at the age of 61.7
Huntington Beach, CA
Flight Classes 71-39 and 71-41
Date of Birth 02/17/1950
Served in the U.S. Army
This information was provided by John Harris, Sammie Williams

More detail on this person: Was saddened to read the TAPs listing in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue, of the passing of a fellow classmate, Harry "Hank" A. Plude. However, there are a couple of errors in his listing which warrant correction. The first one, which is minor, is the fact that Hank actually graduated with class 71-41 at Ft Rucker; he likely did go through training in at least two classes, both 71-39 & 71-41, so I recommend that both be listed.

The second one is more important & somewhat harder to explain; in the TAPS obituary, apparently written by his sister, it said: "...and he was a proud Army Vietnam Veteran and experienced helicopter pilot." However, in fact, Hank did not serve in Vietnam, so he should now instead be listed in the directory as "DNV" - died and did not serve in Vietnam.

I can't explain why his sister would have written that as Hank instead went to Korea after graduation. (Perhaps she meant "in Asia"?) I can state this with complete certainty, as upon the completion of his tour in Korea, he returned to Ft Lewis, WA, within a week or two of my return from Vietnam, and we then served there in the same unit.

Therefore, I am writing this not to cast any dispersions upon Hank but to simply keep the record straight for historical purposes.

From: John Harris, Class 71-41

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024


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