When word went out that Vietnam veteran Bill Wietelman of Shawnee, a recipient of four purple hearts, wanted to take a helicopter ride, the call was answered by Daniel Davis.

The time and date were set and Saturday, February 19 ^th , was a beautiful morning as Danny, a 2001 graduate of Allen High School, flew his Bell Long Range helicopter from the Ada airport to the Shawnee Regional Airport. There he met with the Wietelman family and others who wanted to be part of Bill’s bucket-list ride.

A native of Blanchard, Bill quit school at the age of 17 to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corp. He served in the Corp 2 years, 9 months and 21 days, spending 22 months of that time, 1967-69, in Vietnam as a heavy equipment operator. While there, clearing land on a dozer, he was struck by three buried mines and one manually detonated IED while riding in a transport. He earned Purple Hearts for each incident.

Sergeant Wietelman came home to continue his service for an additional five years in the Active Reserves where he reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. He also worked at Tinker Air Force Base, Midwest City, modifying B-52 bombers. It was at Tinker that he met his wife, Dorthy Dighton Wietelman. The couple will have been married 52 years on March 21 ^st ,and were blessed with two daughters, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren with their first great-great-grandchild on the way.

While in Vietnam, Wietelman was exposed to Agent Orange and as a result suffers from lung, prostrate and stomach cancer. He also has PTSD, Parkinson Disease and a fall last year resulted in a broken hip.

Making Saturday helicopter flight with Bill and his pilot, Danny Davis, were his daughter, Billi Jean Wietelman and son Tobias Wietelman, granddaughter Tabitha Wietelman, good friend Huey Quarrel who himself is a Navy veteran of Desert Storm, and the mayor of Shawnee Ed Bolt.

When asked how his flight was, Bill Wietelman simply said, “Smooth.” He was very grateful to Danny Davis and Jessie Newell of Bird Nest Baby Photography for making this flight possible.