The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Vietnam War Monument Dedication

At 9:00 AM on Wednesday, 10 September, 2025, The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA), a 501c(19) military veterans non-profit will be dedicating a monument to those helicopter pilots and crew members who gave their lives in service to their country during the Vietnam War. The ceremony will take place in the Memorial Park adjacent to the Army Aviation Museum & Foundation just inside the Daleville, Alabama gate to Fort Fort Rucker.

It goes without saying that Fort Rucker has played a significant historic, economic, and patriotic role in the Southeast Alabama community. This momentous event will mark the 50t anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. From 1961 through 1972, Fort Rucker trained and graduated some 27,000 helicopter pilots and at least another 46,000 enlisted Aviation crew chiefs, mechanics, and aviation support personnel.

Vietnam was a unique chapter in aviation, Army aviation, and the history of helicopters. For the very first time in war, helicopters would become the major means of transportation, offensive weaponry, ground support logistics, and medical evacuation. Although extremely vulnerable to enemy groundfire, the helicopter, its pilots, and its crew members, despite the risks, heroically proved themselves in undaunted fashion as a highly effective and indispensable asset in supporting ground operations.

The VHPA is a "last man standing" association, meaning no more Vietnam helicopter pilots were produced after 1972, and given the average age of those pilots now, we will all too soon go the way of World War II veterans, The Doolittle Raiders, and The Tuskegee Airman.

Of the 58,000 plus who died in the Vietnam War, over 10% of those casualties were the pilots, crew members, observers, and passengers aboard various types of helicopters that flew over and into the battles to support the ground forces, and they did so without hesitation.

Vietnam has become known as "The Helicopter War" and the Huey became the ubiquitous and venerable icon of that war. This ceremony, dedicated to those men who served there will never be duplicated, and it will take place where those same men trained and prepared to fight for their country so many years ago. Help us honor that history by attending.

Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association

1601 East Lamar Boulevard Suite 117 Arlington, Texas 76011

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