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Wilfred F. Schmidt, Jr
Warrant Officer
A TRP, 7TH SQDN, 1ST CAVALRY, 1ST AVIATION BDE, USARV Army of the United States Silvis, Illinois November 01, 1945 to April 13, 1969 WILFRED F SCHMIDT Jr is on the Wall at Panel W27, Line 78 |
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WO WILFRED F SCHMIDT Jr
WO WILFRED F SCHMIDT Jr
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Jim Roberts, Apache Troop 7/1 Cav, was flying as Cw2 Allen's wingman the day of the crash. He wrote: "The executive officer (can't recall his name) wanted some Cobra time so he was with me. I had him in the back seat but I was flying from the front seat." The report on the VHPA web page lists CW2 Allen as the Pilot and Schmidt as the AC, but it should be reversed per Roberts. He further wrote: "Pop-a-top (Allen) had 30 days to go and his front seat (Schmidt) had been there 30 days. I can still see the backseat bouncing out of the fireball. We were 100 miles from Vinh Long, but I would have walked back that day. Good men. It took me two tries to get thru the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., but the second time I found their names on the Wall. NOTE: VHPA website does confirm elsewhere on the men's pages, the CWO Allen was officially listed as pilot but performing duties of Aircraft Commander and Schmidt was officially "Air Crew" but performing duties of Pilot. It was reported they felt a severe vibration on start up. They shut down, checked, and started again. Helicopter crashed enroute to Area of Operations. No radio message received prior to crash. The two men killed when their cobra crashed and burned were:
Warrant Officer Wilfred F Schmidt was born to Alice G Schmidt (1922-1989) and Wilfred Frederick Schmidt (1920-2005). WO Schmidt's father Bill was a PFC in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII and for 30 years was a Civil Servant at Rock Island Arsenal Illinois. At the time of his death, WO Schmidt was survived by his parents, a sister, Pamela, and brothers Warren and Wayne. Warrant Officer Wilfred F. Schmidt was laid to rest Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Rock Island County, Illinois (Plot: K - 501) as are his parents (Plot: O - 1298 AND 1299). 
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