More detail on this person: It is with great sadness that AAAA reports the passing ofa member of the Army Aviation Association of America's "The Originals," otherwise known as the Cub Club. Colonel Harry Wheatland Townsend, U.S. Army Retired COL (Ret.) Harry Townsend was born December 22,1922, in Philadelphia, PA and passed peacefully in Silver Spring, MD, on February 18,2021 at age 98. A veteran of three wars, a master Army aviator with more than 8,000 hours (of which more than 1,700 are combat) and a master parachutist, he began his military service with the Citizens Military Training Corps. During World War II he was commissioned a second lieutenant and served in Europe. In 1947 he applied for flight training. When there was no response, he and 19 other black parachutists bought an Aeronca Chief and formed a flying club in Fayetteville, N.C. His outstanding service with the 555th Parachute Infantry was rewarded with a Regular Army commission. Townsend completed fixed-wing and helicopter training in 1950 and went on to fly hundreds of combat missions in Korea in H-13 and liaison fixed-wing aircraft. Following seven years of important staff and command assignments, he took command of the 268th Combat Aviation Battalion in Vietnam where he led the unit's largest air assault, inserting all combat elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and a battery of 155mm howitzers. His last years of military service were in the offices of the Army's Inspector General, the Secretary of Army and the Secretary of Defense. After retirement he served for decades on AAAA's National Executive Board, ten as trustee and treasurer of the Scholarship Foundation, and as international judge in national and international helicopter championships. He was also a Founding Member of the U.S. Army Black Aviation Association, serving as its Chairman in 1985; and Chairman of the Board of The ROCKS, Inc., a professional military officers' organization. In 1972, he was inducted into the Officer Candidate School (OCS) Hall of Fame, Ft. Benning, GA; and in 2004 into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. In the words of AAAA Executive Director, Bill Harris, "Harry was a true giant in character, honor, integrity, and action, le will be sorely missed."
Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery
This information was last updated 03/29/2021
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Date posted on this site: 10/13/2025
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