Paul M. Reagan, Lt. Colonel, USAF (Retired)
July 27, 1923 – May 04, 2014

Paul served in the US Army Air Corps 1943-1945 and the US Air Force 1945-1970.

Paul married Phyllis. They are the parents of Mike, Becky & Amy.

Paul Michael Reagan was born in Nazareth, Pennsylvania to William A. and Gertrude Reagan. After graduating from Nazareth High School in 1942, he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps, and was called to active duty on Feb. 3rd, 1943. He completed basic training in Miami Beach, then trained as an Aviation cadet. His solo flight was at the controls of a PT-23 trainer, on Nov. 27th, 1943. Flight training continued until Aug. 1944, when he emerged as a Flight Officer and trained as a B-17 co-pilot. Final crew training was in Gulfport, MS. He and his crew departed for Europe from Newport News, VA, aboard the troop ship “Sea Quail”.

Paul and his crew arrived in Naples, Italy on Dec. 24th, 1944. After a short stay in Caserta, he traveled by rail boxcar to Foggia, where he and his crew were assigned to the 414th Bomb squadron, 97th Bomb Group, 15th Army Air Force. Their base would be Amendola. From January 1945 until the end of WW-2 in May, Paul flew 17 combat missions, attacking Nazi targets in Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. By the war’s end, Paul had been promoted to 1st Lt., and remained in Italy several more months, until he was sent home aboard the troop ship “Wakefield” and was mustered out of the Army on Dec. 29th, 1945.

After WW-2, Paul attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY to study art, until his finances ran short, and he returned to Pennsylvania. He worked as a ferry pilot for the Piper Aircraft Company, flew a C-47 for a gold mining company in British Columbia, and worked for the Martin Guitar Company in Nazareth.

On Jan.17th, 1953, Paul was recalled to service, now with the fledgling US Air Force. He would remain in the Air Force as a Pilot for nearly 20 years. Assigned to the Strategic Air Command, Paul would fly a wide variety of aircraft, including the C-47, the B-47E with the 307th Bomb Wing, the KC-97G with the 98th Refueling Squadron (both assignments at Lincoln AFB, NE), and the 551st Strategic Missile Squadron, serving on Atlas-F missile crews and flying DeHavilland U-6A’s.

While stationed at Lincoln AFB, Paul met Phyllis J. Dingman. They were married on April 17th, 1958, at Trinity Lutheran Church. They would eventually have three children.

In 1967, Paul transitioned from fixed wing aircraft to helicopters. This training would culminate in a combat assignment during the Vietnam War. After jungle survival training in the Philippines in Dec. 1967, he traveled to Tan Son Knut (near Saigon), then to Bangkok, Thailand. Maj. Paul Reagan was assigned to the 40th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRS), one of several units known as the “Jolly Green Giants” for the large, camouflaged helicopters used to rescue downed airmen from enemy held territory.

On Sept 17th, 1968, Paul was flying as co-pilot on HH-3E “Jolly 36”. With a crew of four, their mission was to rescue the crew of a downed RF-4C “Phantom” near Tchepone, in Laos. The rear seat crewman (WSO) Capt. Edgar F. Davis was never found, but the gravely injured pilot Capt. Leighton Paul was located, dangling from trees in his parachute harness. As one crewman went down to secure the injured pilot to a hoist, the pilots kept the helicopter in a hover for 27 minutes, under the tree canopy, and under fire. When the flight engineer encountered problems bringing the unconscious, badly injured pilot into the helicopter due to being tangled with jungle vegetation, Paul left his co-pilot’s position to aid the flight engineer. He stood in the open doorway and calmly directed suppressing fire, grabbed the injured man’s harness, drew a large sheathe knife from his hip, and cut away the vegetation, and pulled him in, while the flight engineer manned one of their defensive weapons. for this act, Paul was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action. Capt. Leighton Paul survived but would later have a leg amputated. Paul finished his combat tour with 79 sorties and 204 hours of flight time.

Paul’s final flying assignment was at Whiteman AFB (in Missouri), flying the UH-1F Iroquois helicopter. He retired from the Air Force in 1970 as a Lt. Col., and returned with his family to Lincoln, NE. He took up his interest in art again, and produced a number of wildlife canvases, and other subjects, notably a series of paintings of firearms from the American revolution and the Old West, which were later reproduced as prints. He re-entered the work force in 1977 and worked as a technical illustrator for a local electronics manufacturer, then retired again in 1984.

Besides aviation and wildlife art, Paul had a lifelong interest in early American and civil War history. he belonged to the Isaac Walton League, the Audubon Society, American Legion, and the Civil War Round Table group in Lincoln.

Paul’s son and biographer offers this brief biography to illustrate his extraordinary, rich life, in and out of uniform. He passed away at age 90, surrounded by family and friends. he faced his final months with dignity, courage, and an occasional bit of humor – just as he did every other phase of his life. He lived life as an example to all who knew him as a lesson – more than just facing the end of the journey, but in how to live every day to the fullest.

Lt. Col. Paul M. Reagan’s Major military awards: Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross.

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Major Paul M. Reagan served in the Vietnam War as a HH-3E pilot with Det. 1, 38^th ARRS and Det. 1, 37^th ARRS in the 1968-1969-time frame.