GEORGE L AIKIN
VIEW ALL PHOTOS (3)
HONORED ON PANEL 17W, LINE 53 OF THE WALL

GEORGE LEE AIKIN

WALL NAME

GEORGE L AIKIN

PANEL / LINE

17W/53

DATE OF BIRTH

07/31/1947

CASUALTY PROVINCE

KONTUM

DATE OF CASUALTY

10/09/1969

HOME OF RECORD

WILMINGTON

COUNTY OF RECORD

New Castle County

STATE

DE

BRANCH OF SERVICE

ARMY

RANK

CAPT

Book a time
Contact Details

REMEMBRANCES

LEFT FOR GEORGE LEE AIKIN
POSTED ON 4.21.2023
POSTED BY: Ryan Wolfe

Without whom I would not be alive.

My Father Capt. Jackie Everett Lamar Wolfe was a Forward Air Observer in Pleiku, Vietnam. He often told the following story: My grandfather was a Notre Dame football fan, too the extent that his fanaticism made my father ill. He would often lament he would rather root for the University of Moscow if they had a team though he was himself unabashedly anticommunist. He described a bet he had made with another Forward Observer (George L Aikin) on who would take out the next patrol. Notre Dame lost and Capt. Aikin did not survive. Without his sacrifice myself and 3 beautiful daughters would not be here. Life is frail & blessed and often owed to the bravery and sacrifices of those names on a wall. Thank you Captain Aikin.
read more read less
POSTED ON 3.26.2021
POSTED BY: John Fabris

Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
read more read less
POSTED ON 10.3.2019

Final Mission of 1LT George L. Aikin

On October 9, 1969, a U.S. Army Cessna O-1D Bird Dog (#55-4690) from the 219th Aviation Company (“Headhunters”) was performing a low-level visual reconnaissance supporting the 5th Special Forces in Kotum Province, RVN, when it failed to return to base. The missing crew were Headhunter pilot 1LT George L. Aikin and observer SFC John E. Lopez Jr. from Detachment A-242 (Dak Pek), B Company, 5th Special Forces Group. A search was conducted the following day when two O-1 Bird Dogs were launched to try and locate Aikin’s plane. Operating in a “high-low” arrangement, the “low” plane reported losing radio contact with the “high” aircraft. Three days later, it was found inverted in a fast-moving river. Both crewmen, CPT Franklin L. Weisner and CPT Calvin W. Maxwell, were not located and remain missing. By October 18th, no evidence of Aikin’s plane was found, and search and rescue efforts were terminated. In February 1970, the crash site was discovered by a 2nd Corps Mike Force U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) company patrolling in an area west of Dak Pek. The SF personnel were aware of the missing Bird Dog, and while moving up a ridgeline on Ngot Kot Mountain the point element spotted the missing plane. They found the Bird Dog in a small clearing up against some vegetation. Fully visible, it was intact and nose-down at a 45-degree angle. One of the SF medics looked in the aircraft and found pilot Aikin and observer Lopez. They still had their ID’s, weapons, and personal belongings on them. They spent the night with the plane and a Crash Site Investigation Team came in by helicopter the following day, putting down in a small landing zone cut out by the Mike Force personnel. They found no battle damage to the aircraft and concluded that the crash was the result of either pilot error or engine failure. The remains of the two aviators were removed and the Bird Dog, still fully fueled and loaded with ordinance, was destroyed in place by the SF soldiers. Aikin was posthumously promoted to Captain. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by Randy Cesani (September 2019)]
read more read less
POSTED ON 10.9.2018
POSTED BY: John Braun

In Honor

1LT Aikin, You are remembered. Pilot of O-1 55-4690 on that ill-fated flight.
read more read less
POSTED ON 4.15.2018
POSTED BY: Bruce W. Johnson

Remembering My Fellow Army Fixed-Wing Flight School Classmate

In researching the current address's of my Army OFWAC 68-10 classmates, in hopes of arranging our 50th graduation reunion from flight school, I came upon this sad information. My condolences to Kay and the rest of Georges family.
read more read less
1 2 3 4