During his senior year in High School, he attended a career fair. The Navy was looking for recruits as enlisted flight crew. When he learned that one of the Naval aircraft tracked Russian subs he was “all in”.
William “Corky” Gould was a 20-year-old boiler technician on the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea 100 miles off the coast of North Vietnam when a fire alarm blared. A second alarm followed 20 seconds later.
Jim Hamilton discovered his passion for air travel as a teenager, when he routinely rode to O'Hare and hopped on short flights to and from Chicago — all without his parents knowledge.
John arrived in Vietnam just after the TET Offensive of 1968 to the 2/39th 9th Division. His primary base camp was Dong Tam in the Mekong Delta.
Dave Dial grew up as an only child in a hardworking blue-collar family. His parents didn’t graduate from high school, but they were doubly determined that their son would have opportunities they hadn’t.
HFC130 took flight on July 29 with one World War II, one Korean War, and 105 Vietnam War Veterans aboard. This was our second flight this season with at least one Veteran from all three of the eras we currently serve!