Veteran of the Day – November 16, 2025
Name: Leon Darvin Flanders
Rank / Branch: First Lieutenant (1LT), United States Army
Unit: 145th Airlift Platoon, 117th Assault Helicopter Company, 10th Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade, USARV
Date of Birth: October 30, 1942
Home of Record: Fairfield, South Carolina (raised in Winnsboro, Fairfield County)
Start of Tour: November 6, 1965
Date of Casualty: June 17, 1966
Country / Province of Loss: South Vietnam – Darlac Province (Special Forces camp near Ban Me Thuot, Central Highlands)
Wall Location: Panel 8E, Line 56 – Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
First Lieutenant Leon Darvin “Darv” Flanders grew up in Fairfield County, South Carolina, where he attended local schools in Winnsboro and starred in football, basketball, and baseball. He played end on Mount Zion Institute’s 1958 team, which won the South Carolina Class A state football championship. He then went on to Clemson College, graduating in 1964 with a degree in economics and playing football for the Clemson Tigers.
After college, Darvin completed the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and then began rotary-wing flight training at Fort Wolters, Texas. He earned his Army aviator wings at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in July 1965 (Rotary Wing Class 65-8) and stayed on as an instructor pilot with the Department of Tactics before deploying to Vietnam with the 145th Airlift Platoon, later part of the 117th Assault Helicopter Company.
In Vietnam, Lt. Flanders flew UH-1 “Huey” helicopters on dangerous missions in support of Special Forces and Army units in the field. On May 9th, 1966, he led a rescue mission for a six-man Special Forces reconnaissance team pinned down near Bo Tuc. Under heavy enemy fire, his helicopter was badly hit and he was wounded in the foot, but he kept control of the aircraft, pulled away, and coordinated air strikes that shattered the enemy force and allowed the team to escape. For this mission, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary heroism.
Just weeks later, on June 17, 1966, Lt. Flanders and his crew were supporting a Special Forces camp in the Central Highlands near Ban Me Thuot. While they waited in a tent between flights, the camp came under mortar attack. A “short round” fell into the friendly area and exploded near the tent. Darvin was struck by shrapnel and killed instantly—one of the earliest combat casualties associated with what became the famed 281st Assault Helicopter Company.
Back home, his sacrifice was deeply felt. At Clemson, a formal ceremony was held where his widow, Gloria Tilley Flanders, accepted the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star Medal on his behalf as the entire cadet corps paid tribute to their fallen classmate. (Clemson Corps) In Fairfield County, South Carolina, his name is remembered among the county’s “Veterans of Honor,” and at the national level, he is honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Panel 8E, Line 56.
mickyspano.com/ and The Micky Spano Show proudly honor First Lieutenant Leon Darvin “Darv” Flanders, United States Army, as our Veteran of the Day for November 16, 2025.
We remember his courage as an Army aviator, his devotion to his fellow soldiers, and the proud legacy he left for South Carolina, Clemson, and our nation.
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