Joel T. Hageman

 

This memorial Page was given to me by Gary Pope a Charlie trooper 1970-1971.

Joel was assigned to Charlie Troop on October 26, 1970 and was Killed in Action on March 12, 1971. Joel was a Pilot of an AG-1G Cobra Attack helicopter. Joel was awarded the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and a set o Army Aviator Wings.

If any family member or friend reads this blog, please contact me as I am looking for pictures and personal stories about this brave man.

This is a story written by Joel’s younger brother John:

Joel Hageman from a young age exhibited a large number of attractive traits that made people want to be around him and spend time with him. As a young boy, he showed little fear and was never afraid of new people or unfamiliar situations. Growing up as school teacher’s kids in a small Nebraska town, our family did not have much excess money to share with Joel and I (two year older brother), so Joel and I sold Gurney flower and vegetable seeds each spring to earn money for ourselves. Joel was always a harder worked than I and met people much easier than I did, so he always out sold me. When Joel reached middle school, he signed up for an Omaha World Herald morning paper route, which he quickly expanded the customer base. His ability to make a dollar never left him as later in life, he always bought cars that would resale easily and bring a good price, including a ’67 Chevy Malibu 396 SS, an Alfa Romero, and a BMW convertible. While completing a tour of Germany (after his 1st Viet Nam tour), Joel assembled a collection of 23 grandfather clocks which he shipped to the U.S., to sell at a good profit (we still have one of the clocks in our dining room). When Joel reached an age old enough to buy Christmas presents for the family (3 kids), it was always acknowledged that Joel was the best “shopper” of the family. His choice of gifts were always so intuitive, requiring much insight by him to choose exactly right gift as to what one needed or wanted. Not only at Christmas time, Joel’s sensitivity to others was consistently demonstrated during the year, as he was in tune with what was going on in his family member’s life and provided welcome support and comfort. Joel was an athlete that played baseball and football and made the high school football team as a junior. His superior line play as senior resulted in a college football scholarship. Forty five years later, I still have Joel’s childhood and high school friends contact me to tell me what a great person Joel was, what a great friend he was, and how they still miss him. He was an honest and straight forward person as any individual you would ever want to meet.

While he never was vocal about it, Joel always had a desire to fly aircraft. Starting in middle school, his bedroom floor was always littered with several books about military aircraft or the history of aircraft. That attraction to aircraft was undoubtedly what led him to join the Army to fly helicopters.