LTC (R) Louis L. Mizell was born in Oshkosh, NE in 1931 and died on March 19, 2015. His family moved to western Colorado when he was 5, where he lived until 1948, when he joined the Army as a private. He retired in 1969 as an LTC. The major part of his career was spent in the Medical Service Corps, where he flew medical evacuation helicopters in Germany, Iran, Korea, Vietnam and a number of US locations. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal for Valor with 12 Oak Leaf Clusters, and many other awards.
Louis married Doris Dahl, an Army Nurse, at the old Madigan Chapel, immediately prior to his Vietnam deployment. After retirement they, and their family moved to University Place. He was employed by Great Western Helicopters, which was located at Tacoma Industrial Airport as the Manager and Chief Pilot. The company contracted with the National Forest Service to fight forest fires and also did some work in positioning radio towers and installing air conditioners on building roofs.
He was a life member of the Veteran’s of Foreign Wars Post #318, Olympia, the Military Officers Association of America, the DUSTOFF Association, and the Solo Pilots Association