Streamwood veteran pioneered helicopter use in Korean War

Don Williams of Streamwood, who was a coach for 30 years at Prospect High School, shakes off the notion that he did anything heroic during his military service, but, in fact, he helped pioneer the first Naval helicopter squadron during the Korean War.

It was in 1951 that Williams and several of his friends left college and enlisted in the Navy.

"The Korean War had started and we wanted to help get it over with," says Williams, now retired and living at Westbrook Senior Living Community in Streamwood. "We had just gone from one war to another."

Williams describes taking a test upon his enlistment, and learning that he had done well enough to be trained as a helicopter mechanic. He doesn't recall having any aptitude for mechanics, or even knowing much about repairing cars.

"I was happy with the result," Williams says. "Most of my buddies were sent to serve on board ships."

He would be assigned to complete eight weeks of training, learning the controls of Bell 47 helicopters, which looked like a bubble, Williams says. They would become part of the first helicopter squadron that would be introduced during the Korean War in 1951.

Once his training was complete, Williams was sent to Ream Field, which was part of a naval auxiliary air station near San Diego. The field was commissioned as a service and landing field for helicopters.

"Helicopters were still experimental then," Williams recalls. "They didn't know what they could do, so we were constantly taking them out and testing their performance."

Williams would accompany the pilot in these testing flights, checking to see how much altitude the helicopter could handle and just how fast it could travel.

"Helicopters would come and go," he says. "Once we finished working on one, another one would come in."

He often flew the newly serviced helicopters, with their pilots, from the airfield to the nearby naval base, where the helicopters were shipped to Korea on board aircraft carriers.

Williams has fond memories of his years in California, especially since his wife, Marilyn, was there with him. The couple had married early in Williams' service.

"I learned so much about helicopters during those years," Marilyn says. "I felt like I was in the Navy."

Ultimately, Williams says, these early helicopters served a variety of roles in the Korean conflict, including reconnaissance and scouting, search and rescue, and as medical rescue vehicles.

Williams says he had little idea that his work on military helicopters would be historic. However, helicopters would play an even more significant role in the Vietnam War, where they moved from primarily search and rescue vehicles to assault aircraft.

Williams left the Navy in 1953 at the end of the Korean War and resumed his college studies at Evansville University. He landed his first teaching job at a high school in Evansville, but he soon responded to a suggestion from a friend that he move to Chicago's Northwest suburbs, where there were many openings.

He would end up at Prospect High School, where he would stay for 30 years, teaching physical education and coaching football and wrestling. He retired in 1990.

During retirement, the couple spent 20 years living in Mesa, Arizona, where they both played golf and enjoyed going to Cubs' spring training games. Now, they have moved "home," and are near their three married children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

This year, the couple says they will celebrate Veterans Day quietly, with the day giving them reason to reflect on Williams' service.

"I'm glad I was able to do something that was needed," Williams says. "I'm proud of my service."