ZIMMERMAN WILLIAM J

COL William J. Zimmerman was a VHPA member who died after his tour in Vietnam on 11/23/1999 at the age of 56.0 from A/C accident
Northport, NY
Flight Class 66-14
Date of Birth 11/06/1943
Served in the U.S. Army
Served in Vietnam with 119 AHC in 66-67
Call signs in Vietnam ALLIGATOR, CROCODILE
This information was provided by CW4 James G Freeman

More detail on this person: Bill Zimmerman was an extremely intelligent individual. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he entered the Army and became a helicopter pilot. Upon his return from Viet Nam, he left the service to pursue a career in the banking industry in New York. He continued his military service in the New York Army National Guard, commanding units of various sizes and rising to the rank of Colonel. When his banking career ended, he reverted to the rank of CW-2 in order to accept a full-time AGR position at AASF #2 at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. It was while serving in that capacity that his UH-1H crashed on final approach to runway 06 at ISP in dense fog, killing him and his crew chief. The co-pilot and another crew chief sustained very serious injuries. Bill was an outstanding individual and I was very proud to serve both with and for him.

From: Greg Dunne Major, MSC (RET)

This information was last updated 05/18/2016

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Date posted on this site: 10/11/2026