 Courtesy his daughter Deborah Birthisel |
Remember...Daniel Lee Birthisel
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On March 4, 1934, Daniel Lee Birthisel was born to Eustace and Hazel Birthisel, in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia. He grew up on Roosevelt Avenue across the river from Malden, which is six miles upriver from Charleston. It was a small, quaint neighborhood reflective of the environment and influences around it. He was devoted to his family, above all. He dearly loved his two sisters Madelyn and Betty Jo. Along with his family, he had a dog whom he deeply cared for, which was a collie named Prince. In his youth, Daniel enjoyed many pastimes. He was an avid fan of basketball, both watching and playing the sport regularly. He also had a fondness for cars. Not only did he enjoy cars, but also enjoyed working on them. Some popular models at the time were the Bel Air and the Hornet. Also, Volkswagen was becoming increasingly popular in America.
Daniel attended Roosevelt Junior High School in the East End of Charleston and graduated from Charleston High School in 1952. His higher education was focused on engineering and was completed at West Virginia Institute of Technology and Morris Harvey College in West Virginia before his moving to study at the University of Alabama. On September 17, 1955, he married his wife, Nancy Ann Brewer, at Ruffner Memorial Presbyterian Church on Greenbrier Street in Charleston; he was 21 and she was 20 years old. In the coming years of their marriage, they would have two children: a son, Russell, and a daughter, Deborah (Debbie), who have kept his memory alive and smiling.
| Daniel first entered the military as an enlisted man on June 1, 1954. A year later, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. His training was completed through the Cadet Aviation Program at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, where he found his vocation as a pilot. The program was developed for the formal training of military pilots. With aviation in growing demand, graduated cadets would make up many Air Force officers through the 1950s. The program would set a precedent for future aviation training. A new age of warfare had finally fully developed. Not only had advancements in technology changed the landscapes of war forever; for the first time, it changed how we view those who walked those landscapes. Color photography and improved videography gave the press visual evidence of the atrocities of war; it gave them evidence of the horrors of East Asia. (Bruce Ashcroft, We Wanted Wings: A History of the Aviation Cadet Program, 2005, accessed 9 April 2021, https://media.defense.gov/2015/Sep/11/2001329827/-1/-1/0/AFD-150911-028.pdf.) |  Courtesy Deborah Birthisel |
The Korean War had already ended by the time Daniel had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. However, at some point after his flight training in the late 1950s, he was stationed in South Korea. According to one of his friends, Colonel Foster Dickson, he would have been assigned to either Osan Air Force Base or Kunsan Air Force Base as a combat pilot probably flying the Air Force's new F-100 Super Saber. During this time there was always the constant threat of war with the North Koreans.
During 1960 and 1961, Daniel and his family would be stationed in Washington State, where his unit would fly daily missions along the borders of the United States. This was done due to the escalating tensions between the Cubans and the U.S. and the resulting Bay of Pigs crisis.
It would be in September of 1966 that he would be stationed in Korat, Thailand, after his unit, the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, was transferred to the Pacific on April 8, 1966. Their deployment was necessary to keep up with the escalation of the Vietnam War. Thai Air Bases proved to be a valuable, strategic tool for air strikes, as its geographical location allowed for short travel throughout the war torn East Asia. This led to the semi-permanence of the United States Air Force's presence in the area. ("388th Fighter Wing," U.S. Air Force Website, accessed 9 April 2021, https://www.388fw.acc.af.mil/; 388th Bomb Group Association, accessed 9 April 2021, https://www.388thbga.org/.) He would remain there for a year and earned a Bronze Star for his heroic actions. Debbie recalled that she "always saw her father in his flight suit except for when he departed for Thailand." So when Daniel left that day, "it was a strange sight to her when he wore a black suit and tie, so as not to draw attention to himself due to all the protesters protesting the Vietnam War."
 Courtesy Deborah Birthisel |
In 1969, Major Daniel Lee Birthisel would be assigned to a Combat Training Unit, the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron stationed at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina. There he made a stateside contribution to the continuing war effort in Vietnam. On Wednesday, June 23, 1971, the 18-year Air Force veteran was flying an A7D Corsair Tactical Fighter conducting Close Air Support (CAS) training missions for ground troops at Ft. Benning, Georgia, when his plane crashed. According to the Public Information Office at Ft. Benning, "an Air Force team from Myrtle Beach Air Force Base is investigating the crash. Maj. Birthisel had more than 4,700 hours of flying time, including 160 hours in the A7D. His plane was in a flight of four at the time of the crash." (Daniel Lee Birthisel, Find A Grave, accessed 9 April 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130497191/daniel-lee-birthisel.) Initially it was believed the cause of the crash was pilot error, but later the Air Force confirmed that there was a manufacturing defect that caused the crash. |
| It is said that the engine is the heart of an aircraft, but the pilot is its soul. This couldn't be truer in the case of Maj. Birthisel. According to his daughter Debbie, "He once stated that when his time comes, he hoped to be doing that which he loved most, [which was] flying," an eerie and ominous foreshadowing of his untimely demise. Maj. Birthisel's remains were recovered and returned to Charleston, West Virginia, escorted by a Military Funeral Detail. Debbie remembers vividly "standing on the tarmac waiting for her father's casket to come down the luggage rack from a commercial plane with the funeral home car waiting to make transfer." After the funeral he was laid to rest at Cunningham Memorial Park in St. Albans, West Virginia, with full military honors. Additionally, a memorial service was held at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. |  Military marker for Maj. Birthisel in Cunningham Memorial Park. Courtesy Deborah Birthisel |
His death prevented him and his wife Nancy from living out their dreams of retiring in Phoenix, Arizona, the same state in which he completed his initial flight training. When asked why he would want to retire in Arizona, his reply was "the sky is always clear and blue." After his death, Nancy and the kids moved back to Charleston, West Virginia, to be closer to family. Nancy started working at Columbia Gas Transmission and eventually retired from there while raising their two children.
 Maj. Birthisel's Bronze Star. Courtesy Deborah Birthisel |
Maj. Daniel Lee Birthisel will always be remembered as a true hero and a patriot for his 18 years of service to our country. He earned a Bronze Star and numerous other awards and decorations as he served in South Korea, the Vietnam War, and the Bay of Pigs Crisis. He is memorialized at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, West Virginia, and will always be remembered "as a good man who loved God, country and his family." |
Article prepared by Caitlin Thomas and MAJ (Ret) Brad McGee, who gratefully acknowledge the breadth of information provided by Debbie Birthisel, Maj. Birthisel's daughter, George Washington High School JROTC
April 2021
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
