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This Day in History – June 10, 1969 – The X-15 gets a place in history

10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and

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Paulsen, Norman M. – KIA

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  • Paulsen, Norman M. – KIA

Norman MacLeod Paulsen - KIA

Preferred Name: Norman
Date of Birth: October 6, 1945
Highest Military Grade: 0-2 – First Lieutenant
Hometown: Elmsford, NY
Headed West Date: September 25, 1968
Biography
Pilot Information

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

Units Assigned

  • Cannon AFB, NM
    1968 308th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force, Tuy Hoa AB, Vietnam (F-100)

Awards & Decorations

National Defense Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Presidential Unit Citation
Air Force Presidential Unit Citation
Vietnam Cross Of Gallantry
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry
AF Good Conduct Medal
Air Force Good Conduct Medal

Flight Info

F-100

Military & Civilian Education

Civilian Education:

  • Alexander Hamilton High School
  • Parks College

Wall of Honor Location

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The mission of the Super Sabre Society is to preserve the history of the F-100 Super Sabre and the men who flew the aircraft.

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