Donald Gary Lammers

Donald Gary Lammers was born in 1944 and raised in Forest City. After high school he attended Iowa State University in Ames and graduated in the class of 1965. After school he joined the Marine Corps and trained to be a helicopter pilot. 1LT Lammers deployed to South Vietnam on April 1, 1968. On August 24 1LT Lammers was co-piloting a CH-46 helicopter during a normal resupply mission when the chopper was hit by small arms fire. The four-man-crew initially climbed in altitude to exceed the enemies’ range of fire. During the subsequent decent the aircraft unexpectedly rolled, crashed, and burst into flames. The crew chief was thrown from the helicopter while the other three marines were killed upon impact. 1LT Lammers was 23 years old at the time of his death and his body was buried at the Corydon Cemetery.