Page 113 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2018- Online Magazine

deserT sTorM

Colonel Nymeyer flew more than 4300 hours
in CH53D, CH46, UH1, SH3, VH3, and CH53E
helicopters. He served at Headquarters USMC in the
Aviation Department; on the staff of the Assistant
Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare); in the
office of Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisitions
and Technology); and in Naval Operations (N411)
as Senior Marine Aviation Ordinance Liaison at the
Pentagon.

On his return to the South Plains, he flew medical
transport helicopters for eight years. He now lives
at the Biggin Hill Airpark, northwest of Shallowater,
in a “hangar home” which contains his experimental
single engine airplane and an in-progress Rotorway
it wasn’t unusual to be attending a class or on an kit helicopter project.
instructional flight one day and then be serving as
designated instructor the next day. Though he’s had a full life, with a remarkable life
history, he quips that he’s still not sure what he wants
November 1979 through May 1980, Major Nymeyer to do when he grows up.
was assigned to the Joint Task Force I-80, working
with members of other military branches, in
an attempt to rescue 148 hostages from the US
Embassy in Tehran, Iran. The operation was
aborted after a refueling stop in the Iranian desert,
when a helicopter pilot, blinded and disoriented
by dust, struck a C-130 refueler aircraft on the
ground and caused an explosion and fire with
the loss of eight servicemen. “That is one of those
indelible memories.”

In June 1983, while assigned to HMH-465,
he served on an accident investigation board
involving the loss of a helicopter transporting a
large truck and five crew members. It crashed
into 1500 feet of water near San Clemente
Island, California. The investigation involved a
submersible craft, located at a site where Major
Nymeyer returned repeatedly over several months
of the investigation and, under his watchful
supervision, helped recover the cargo, the broken
helicopter, and the five crew members lost in the
crash. During the investigation, he had more
hours submerged than flying.

Lt. Colonel Nymeyer was Commanding Officer of
a CH53E squadron deployed to Operation Desert
Shield/Desert Storm from August 1990 through
March 1991.

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