This past year Dennis Pfeiffer has often caught himself wondering, “What was I doing at this moment 40 years ago?”
The answer that almost always comes back? Flying with the 242nd Assault Helicopter Company over Vietnam.
The 60-year-old Wauneta man and Army veteran put in 18 months stationed in Vietnam, from November 1968 to June 1970. Most of that time was spent as a flight engineer aboard a Chinook CH-47 helicopter, resupplying the 25th Infantry.
In May Pfeiffer got a chance to reconnect with several of his old Army buddies as honored guests during the dedication of the Nebraska National Guard’s Army Aviation Support Facility in Grand Island.
During that same whirlwind week, Pfeiffer accompanied his 84-year-old father, Oscar Pfeiffer, on a Buffalo County-sponsored Hero Flight trip to Washington, D.C., where together the Vietnam veteran and World War II veteran journeyed to the war memorials honoring their military service.
“It was an intense week, that’s for sure,” said Dennis.
