Dennis Lee Eilers

Dennis Lee Eilers was raised on a farm near Tipton. He graduated from Tipton High School in the class of 1957 where he was active in sports. Later he completed the Air Force ROTC program at Coe College in the class of 1961. CAPT Eilers was sent to Vietnam in November 1965 serving as a crewman aboard an AC-47 Gunship, nicknamed "Puff, the Magic Dragon." On Christmas Eve 1965 CAPT Eilers aircraft was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Search and rescue operations met heavy enemy resistance and the crash site was never located. CAPT Eilers and crew were listed as missing in action by the Air Force. He left behind a wife and two sons. In April 2012 a recovery team found the crash site and they were able to identify some of the remains as those of CAPT Eilers. The crews’ remains were buried as a group in the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.