Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
7:02 | As an Air Ambulance aviator, Fred Mills had skills in demand all over the world. While stationed in Germany, he flew a mission to Somalia for flood relief, where he was puzzled by tall Watusi in short dwellings.
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College student Fred Mills "ran out of money and experience" and had to leave school just as the Korean War started. A Navy recruiter promised him aviation training but he wound up a Corpsman, which started a long medical career.
After flying relief missions in Iran, Fred Mills was soon back in the states in medical operations. But Vietnam was heating up and he went for his first tour, flying medical evacuations and even finding himself in command of a Special Forces camp.
Helicopter pilot Fred Mills was "really busy" flying medical evacuations in Vietnam. When trees prevented a landing, he dropped a chainsaw to troops, and he used a map with no borders to evacuate from Cambodia. It was "the dirty part of the war."
Fred Mills had a rookie pilot on a evacuation mission who nearly hit the only tree in a rice paddy. Other stories include a refused Purple Heart, tracers through the cabin, and landing a replacement craft next to the still smoldering craft it replaced.
While on his 2nd Vietnam tour, Fred Mills was picked to be the Aviation Officer for the Surgeon General. From there, he moved to the Pentagon and a civilian outreach program that resulted in widespread use of civilian air ambulance operations.
After a variety of Army medical jobs, Fred Mills had a final task. Planning operations for the Gulf War. After retiring, he recalls the harassment when he returned from his 2nd tour in Vietnam. Some sore bar patrons and scared Hare Krishnas also remember.
Navy Vet Fred Mills joined the Army Reserve and then the regular Army, which trained him as an aviator, fulfilling his original enlistment goal. His first stop was post-war Korea where he was given a mysterious mission that did not happen.
Returning to Germany after a mission in Somalia, Pilot Fred Mills was off to another important Air Ambulance operation, this time in Iran following an earthquake. Told to protect his passenger, Princess Pahlavi, he nervously felt the 45 on his hip.
