Washington County, WI – On Saturday, November 6, eight Washington County veterans will be boarding a Stars & Stripes Honor Flight for Washington, D.C., and Army veteran Charles McCormick, of West Bend, accompanied by an Honor Flight volunteer, will be one of them.
McCormick’s interest in the military appeared to have begun during high school, having served in the Civil Air Patrol in both his junior and senior years.
McCormick likes to tell people, “I was drafted three times,” having draft notices come to him in the mail at his duty stations in Alaska, Kansas, and Texas while already enlisted and serving in the United States Army since age 19.
He went on to work as an army aviator/helicopter pilot for 21 years. McCormick tells his story, “When I was in AIT (Advanced Individual Training) I applied to West Point. Then I had a good friend who lived in northern Wisconsin who told me about Flight School. I went to my Battalion Commander and told him I didn’t want to go to West Point, I wanted to go to Flight School. He threw me out of his office. Then off I went to Ft. Wolters, TX, to Flight School.”
Following his completion of Flight School, McCormick went flying helicopters in Vietnam for a year. “I was flying UH-1 Hueys in the beginning. We flew a lot of re-supply, we flew a lot of troops, we carried a lot of bodies,” said McCormick.
“I was in the Americal 23rd Infantry Division at Chu Lai; that’s about one half-hour south of VC,” said McCormick.
“I also flew an OH-6 helicopter in Vietnam for scouting missions and that was like driving a sports car. It was my favorite helicopter. You can fly about 3 inches above the ground,” said McCormick.
After Vietnam, I was very fortunate. I got commissioned; I went to the basic officer’s course, and then I went to the advanced officer’s course. They sent me to college to finish my degree. I got my first command in Germany.”
During his time as a helicopter pilot, McCormick earned 19 Air Medals that were issued for various hours of flight time. “I loved every minute of it,” he said.
McCormick was also the “beta tester for the new Microsoft Flight Simulator” after he got back from his last tour which was in Germany. “I probably got 30,000 hours of flight time on it,” Pape said.
Following his term of service, McCormick hosted a website for veterans with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder); a place where vets could find a common bond, encourage one another and “yell at each other a lot.”
While McCormick has been to D.C. before, he is particularly interested in the National Gallery of Art.
He and his wife June have been married for over 30 years.
Other veterans from Washington County on the Saturday, November 6, 2021 flight include:
Army Veteran Thomas Buschke of Hartford
Air Force Veteran Michael Darvin of Hartford
Coast Guard Veteran Kenneth Weddig of Kewaskum
Army Veteran Glenn Bogenschneider of Slinger
Air Force Veteran Michael Carney of Slinger
Air Force Veteran Thomas Albinger of West Bend
Army Veteran Donald Pape of West Bend
Stars and Stripes Honor Flight is the Milwaukee area hub of the Honor Flight Network. Founded in 2008, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight has flown more than 7,600 WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans from southeastern Wisconsin on one day, all-expenses-paid trips to Washington D.C.