Dennis Clark Hamilton

Dennis Hamilton was born in the small community of Barnes City in Mahaska County. After high school he entered the Army and learned to fly Huey helicopters. He arrived in Vietnam in June 1967 and began flying with the 176th Aviation Company. Hamilton was transporting troops into Laos when his helicopter was hit, burned and went down in a remote area near Myong Nong in Laos. Several rescue missions failed to get close enough, due to enemy fire, to extract any bodies. In 1979 the four crew members and one passenger were ruled deceased by the Army. In 2002 a Joint POW/MIA team excavated the crash site area and discovered remains and dog tags. The crew members were buried as a group in Arlington National Cemetery. In 2006 the remains of Chief Warrant Officer Hamilton were definitively identified.