By Chris Spangler
A documentary about a former Fort Atkinson man’s selfless courage during the Vietnam War debuted locally Friday morning.
“Honor in the Air,” which shares the heroism of the late Capt. Scott R. Alwin, was shown to students and other guests, including several Vietnam War veterans, at the Hoard Historical Museum.
The free presentation will be repeated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Fort Atkinson museum.
Alwin served as a helicopter gunship pilot during five tours of duty in Vietnam from 1967-72. He was killed in a Georgia car crash in 1976.
Penelope “Penny” Alwin Kleinhans, one of Alwin’s 15 siblings, was on hand Friday to introduce the film and share memorabilia chronicling her brother’s military service.
“For us — my sister, Pam (Alwin Fullerton), one of the co-producers, and our family — this documentary has been a labor of love,” she told attendees.
Kleinhans said that it took three years to raise funds and make the film. The family had hoped to have it completed in time for the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s final troop withdrawal on March 29, 2023.
Sharing Alwin’s message of service was worth the extra year it took, she emphasized.
“It’s called ‘Honor in the Air’ because we think Scott was an honorable man. We think honor is important (in setting …) role models for young people today. But you’re also going to see some of the colleagues that Scott had in the 68th Assault Helicopter Company and listen to reasons that they went and what it meant to them,” Kleinhans said in introducing the film.
As a young man, Alwin attended Concordia Seminary in Missouri to become a minister like his father. However, as the Vietnam War heated up, he enlisted to fly helicopters.
“Scott went because when he was school, he was taught that communism was our greatest enemy. Our job was to hold the line against communism and make sure that countries had an opportunity to be democratic if they wanted to be,” Kleinhans said.
“We were taught about something called the domino theory; it meant that when you push dominos, they go (down in a line). We were taught that if we had one country overrun over there by the communists and not become democratic, all the rest would follow.”
So her brother answered not only the call of history, but the call of what he had been taught, she said, adding that 70% of Vietnam veterans were volunteers, compared to 30% of World War II servicepersons.
Kleinhans recalled that early during his first tour of duty, her brother refused to fly gunships (attack helicopters), but he soon changed his mind due to the potential to save U.S. soldiers’ lives.
Alwin is believed to have clocked more airtime than any other American in the war in which more than 2,200 helicopter pilots were killed. Kleinhans said those casualties accounted for nearly half of the pilots flying the 5,000 UH-1 “Hueys” used in Vietnam.
During his military service, Alwin developed a counter-rotational maneuver to counteract helicopter tail-rotor failure, perfecting it with his unit safety officer, according to Kleinhans. The maneuver continues to be standard training for all pilots.
While in Vietnam, Alwin met his future wife. He and Du Thi Duong “Teresa (Tess)” Alwin-Nguyen married in 1969; they had two children, Scott and Heather.
In 1973, having witnessed firsthand and being empathetic to the plight of the South Vietnamese people, Alwin protested President Richard Nixon’s military withdrawal from Vietnam, Kleinhans said. He resigned his officer’s commission and returned to the U.S., where he was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.
“This was the first war that we lost; I mean, we ran away,” she said. “It was very hard for the veterans.”
Kleinhans likened the end of the Vietnam War to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan nearly a half-century later. The difference, however, was that the latter were welcomed home.
“I think because of Vietnam and the way the veterans were treated when they came home from there — with really no respect at all and shoved under the carpet like they didn’t belong — (things were different for) the soldiers who came home from the Middle East and Afghanistan,” Kleinhans said. “We knew that they had done their duty and we still could respect them and honor them for what they did.
“I think that is one of the reasons it is important to have a film like this,” she added.
Kleinhans said that politics aside, the men and women who served in Vietnam felt a call to duty and to honor.
“And I think Scott espoused a lot of those virtues. He did what he believed in,” she said. “It is important that you honor and live up to what your principles are.”
Despite cheating death repeatedly in Vietnam, Alwin was traveling on military business between Fort Benning and Washington D.C. in 1976 when he was killed by a suicidal drunken driver. He was 31 years old.
During his military career, Alwin officially was awarded 136 air medals for combat service, although his battalion records indicate he earned more than 207 medals, Kleinhans said. Each air medal in Vietnam represented 25 hours of combat flight time.
Alwin also was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver and Bronze Stars, several Purple Hearts and 70 oak leaf clusters. He twice was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor: Once for saving the lives of orphans and the other for helping destroy a nest of Viet Cong.
Kleinhans said that thus far, “Honor in the Air” has been shown to high school students in Marathon County, where Alwin, his parents and several siblings are buried, and veterans organizations. This year, it will be making the rounds for film festival judging.
The documentary will not be available to the general public until until January 2025, she reported. After that, it will be posted on YouTube.
Kleinhans said she and her siblings hope that “Honor in the Air,” for which the family is receiving no renumeration, eventually will air on PBS.
For more information on the documentary, visit www.Honorintheair.com.
An earlier story about Capt. Alwin’s 2021 induction into Madison’s William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital Hall of Heroes is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/fort-hero-inducted-into-middleton-memorial-veterans-hospital/.
Four photos above: Attendees at Friday’s showing of “Honor in the Air,” a documentary about the late Capt. Scott R. Alwin, formerly of Fort Atkinson, view memorabilia from his military service following a screening of the program.
Two photos above: Penny Alwin Kleinhans, at right in both photos, visits with attendees Friday before and after the showing of “Honor in the Air,” a documentary about her brother, the late Capt. Scott Alwin, and his service in Vietnam.
Students and members of the general public listen while Penny Alwin Kleinhans, not pictured, introduces “Honor in the Air,” a documentary about her late brother’s service as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War.
Penny Alwin Kleinhans recalls her brother, the late Capt. Scott Alwin’s, service as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. His story is being told in a new documentary, “Honor in the Air.” Donning a “Security Forces Flight” t-shirt, military veteran and Fort Atkinson resident, Dan Juday, in among those listening to the presentation.
Chris Spangler photos.
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