Paulsen, Norman M. – KIA

Norman Paulsen’s tour in Vietnam began on August 3, 1968, when he was assigned to the 308th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Tuy Hoa AB.

At the time of his death, he was married with a young son.

Norman Paulsen Corbitt wrote on the Vietnam Wall of Faces: “Ever since he was a little boy, he dreamed of flying,” my mother told me while I was growing up. Only nine months old when he died, she helped me discover a patriot, pilot, husband, brother, son and a father. I can only hope to live with the same honor to which he lived and died.” (1)

His friend Ken Taub remembers: “…before he left for Viet Nam. He flew his jet home for the day and he was so proud of being a pilot and going to serve his country. When he walked in wearing his pilot’s jumpsuit, you could see he was bursting with pride.” (2)

Although 1Lt Norman Paulsen’s death was listed as “Non-Hostile, Fixed Wing – Pilot Air Loss, Crash on Land in Phu Yen Province”, USAF Major Robert Garrett’s daughter Cheryl writes on the Wall of Faces: “My dad was a fellow pilot and he recalls the night Norman’s plane was shot down. He was there as Norman got in the plane and my father tapped twice on the glass of the plane before the plane took off. He watched in horror as the plane was shot down. My father cries each time he tells me of this fine young man. He said he didn’t drink or smoke and was only 23 when his life ended. There was a priest that built a small church on the base. It was a small building and the men would go and work on this church after working all day. The priest used the details in the Bible to make bricks, meaning the amount of straw and mud needed. The church was built and Norman Paulsen’s memorial service was held there. My dad has the memorial paper of this service as well as a journal he kept during his tour in Vietnam.” (1)

Norman is buried at Valhalla Gardens of Memory, Belleville, St Clair County, IL, and is honored on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington DC. His name is inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 42w, Line 13.

Sources: Bio info/Photo – HonorStates.org;(1) vvmf.org; (2) thewallusa.com