Don Klingler reminisces about his service in the Marine Corps.
Don Klingler had a distinguished and exciting 30 year career in the Marine Corps. Don told us that he was one of the first 5 Marine reservists to enlist from Lima. When he arrived at boot camp he discovered a number of interesting jobs were available and enrolled in meteorology school. Don spent seven years as a Marine Corps. meteorologist, serving both on the east cost an on the air craft carrier Boxer. He became interested in flying and trained as a helicopter pilot, serving three tours in Vietnam flying more than 360 combat missions in 1966 and 1967. Don earned 18 air medals and numerous commendations. He told us that he will always remember the day his youngest daughter, Lima Rotarian Julie Klingler, was born: "We were doing combat inserts, inserting infantry teams into the field and I went into the landing zone with the helicopter. What we didn't know was the enemy with live machine guns was right there in the zone where we were landing. One of the rounds hit my aircraft and damaged the fuel control on one of the engines. You could land with one engine, but you couldn't take off with one. So we were in the landing zone with only one engine that was operating correctly. I had a very intelligent, capable crew chief who said, 'No problem, Captain. We'll just drop the door and I'll manually control the carbeurator. So we did and got back to the base and picked up another helicopter and rejoined the group. That was the same day this young lady was born."
While in Vietnam, Don requested duty with HMX1, which was the code name for flying Marine One, the president's helicopter. After a thorough vetting by the Secret Service, Don was selected to pilot Marine One. He flew President Johnson for the last two years of his presidency and President Nixon for his first two years. Don told us he didn't care much for President Johnson, but found President Nixon to be friendly, kind and generous. Other celebrities Don flew included then-Prince Charles and Princess Anne, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, South Korea's President Park, Vice President Spiro Agnew, and Igor Sikorski who is credited with inventing the first successful single-rotor helicopter in 1939. Don earned the Presidential Service Badge and retired as a lieutenant colonel. Following his military service, Don came back to Lima to run the family farm. He also served as Allen County Fair Manager for 13 years and Director of the Ohio Fair Manager's Association for ten years. Club members honored Don with a standing ovation at the conclusion of his presentation.
Also at Monday's meeting, we inducted two new members into the Lima Rotary Club: Landon DeMoss, Chiropractor at Rabe Chiropractic; and Cam Clark, Marketing Representative at National Lime and Stone. Please make them welcome.
Rotary District 6600 Assistant Governor Barney Beckman attended the meeting to encourage us to attend the many upcoming district events. You can find more details here.
