Author recalls Vietnam helicopter duty

Most pilots fortunate enough to walk away from helicopter duty in Vietnam thanked God for their good fortune and moved on with their lives.

David Henard took a different path after he returned home in 1969 from his time in the U.S. Army.  In our interview in the living room of his home, he recalled the sheer joy he felt the day he left Vietnam for home but that joy and relief to be coming home in one piece did not keep him from his next mission to chronicle his experiences in a book.

Victory Stolen: The perspectives of a helicopter pilot on the Tet Offensive and its aftermath was published by Henard in 2018. There is no substitute for a firsthand account of time spent in a war zone and the dangers faced every second a pilot is in the air.

Henard’s story is part of a collection, Prairie Flyers of Central Illinois: A Century of Aviation in the America’s Heartland, scheduled for publication in June by The History Press. The stories are written by Denis Hambucken, John Warner and me, based on an exhibit we put together in 2022 for the C.H. Moore Homestead and DeWitt County Museum.