HILDEBRAND, LELAND LOUIS
Name: Leland Louis Hildebrand
Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O4
Unit:
Date of Birth: 03 June 1938 Butternut WI
Home City of Record: Fifield WI
Date of Loss: 18 December 1971
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 211000 North 1061700 East
Status (in 1973): Returnee
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:
Missions:
Other Personnel in Incident: Kenneth Wells, Returnee
Refno:
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. UPDATE - 02/97 by the P.O.W.
NETWORK, Skidmore, MO with material provided by Colonel Leland Hildebrand,
USAF RET
REMARKS: 730328 RELEASED BY DRV
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
LELAND L. HILDEBRAND
Major - United States Air Force
Shot Down: December 18, 1971
Released: March 28, 1973
I was born 3 June 1938 at Butternut, Wisconsin and graduated from high
school in Chicago, Illinois May 1956. I entered the USAF as an Aviation
Cadet 25 July 1958 completed Navigation Training and was commissioned 6 July
1959.
Hildebrand trained and served with: 363rd TRW at Shaw AFB South Carolina
until August 1962 (W/RB-66). 7167th ATS and 1455th ATS at Rheinmain AFB
until August 1965 (C-54 C-118). 1371st Mapping and Charting Squadron and 1st
Aerial Cartographic and Geodetic Squadron at Turner AFB and Forbes AFB until
March 1971 (RB-50 C-54 C-118 RC-135). 4455 CCTS at Davis-Monthan AFB through
September 1971 and 13th TFS Udorn Royal Thai AFB until disaster 18 December
1971 (F-4D). Completed my Bachelor Degree requirements at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha Bootstrap TDY January 1970.
Air Force assignments took him to more than a dozen locations around the
world flying bomber, transport, reconnaissance, MedEvac, and fighter
aircraft, and later in Staff Officer assignments. Official travel took him
to many exotic places in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and the South
Pacific. Places like London, Paris, Lisbon, Rome, Beirut, Moscow, Bucharest,
Copenhagen, Berlin, Vienna, Athens, Madrid, Ankara, Tripoli, Naples, Nice,
Tehran, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Asmara Ethiopia, Santiago Chile, Caracas
Venezuela, Bogota Columbia, Monrovia Liberia, American Samoa, and of course,
Hanoi. U.S. assignments were in Texas, California, South Carolina, Georgia,
Kansas, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Of his more than 27 years active
service, over nine years were spent outside the U. S.
After attending F-4 Combat Crew Training at Davis-Monthan AFB AZ in 1971, he
was assigned to the 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Udorn AB, Thailand. On
18 December 1971, during his 20th mission, his F-4 was downed while flying
MIGCAP for a rescue mission. Then a Major, he spent more than 15 months as a
Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. He was released in March 1973. Subsequent
assignments included Graduate School at the University of Arizona; the Air
Force Accounting and Finance Center in Denver; Director of Cost and
Management Analysis, HQ USAFE, Ramstein AB, Germany; Comptroller, Ogden Air
Logistics Center, and Director, Logistics Management Systems, Ogden Air
Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah. Col Hildebrand retired from the Air Force
in December 1985.
After his Air Force retirement, Col Hildebrand took a position with
Electronic Data Systems in EDS' Federal Government Group. During his last
four years with EDS he worked directly with the Office of the Assistant
Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) guiding the development of information
systems to support the delivery of health care to the Armed Forces. He
retired from EDS on 31 January 1996.
Colonel Hildebrand is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and
holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Arizona.
He is also a graduate of the Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, and
the Air War College.
He is a master navigator with nearly 5,000 flying hours. Among his military
awards and decorations are the: Legion of Merit; Distinguished Flying Cross;
Bronze Star with V device; Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf
clusters; Air Medal with oak leaf cluster; Prisoner of War Medal; Air Force
Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster; Purple Heart; and Vietnam Service
Medal with six bronze stars.
Colonel Hildebrand married the former Evelyn McClam of Lake City, South
Carolina, on 8 October 1960. They have two sons, Leland and James, and two
grandchildren. He and his wife live in Vienna, Virginia but they are
planning a move to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in mid-1996.
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