Scope and Contents

The collection consists of approximately half of a linear foot of materials documenting Chief Warrant Officer 4 Alan R. O'Hollaren's military service. The materials include a plaque, books, and yearbooks/cruise books. The materials are dated 1962-1965, 1968, 1971, 1983, 1995, and 2000.

Biographical / Historical

Alan Ross O'Hollaren was born in Omaha, NE in November 1944. He began his career in the U.S. Navy from 1962 to 1965 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany as an aviation ordnance man.

After his stint in the Navy, O'Hollaren attended flight school in Long Beach, CA while working as a draftsman for McDonald-Douglas Corporation and attending classes at Long Beach College. He entered the U.S. Army in October 1968, graduating with flight school class 70-5 in August 1969.

O'Hollaren served two tours in Vietnam as an O-1 Bird Dog pilot. His first tour was with the 184th Nonstop and 74th Aloft. He then returned for a second tour in 1971 with the 220th Aviation Company (Catkillers) after graduation from the Aviation Safety Officers Course at the University of Southern California. He flew for the 2nd Military Intelligence Battalion in Germany from 1974 to 1977 as a U-21 pilot. After returning to the U.S., he attended the rotary wing transition course at Fort Rucker, AL with further assignment to Fort Campbell, KY. He left active duty in 1978 but continued to work with the U.S. Forest Service as a lead plane pilot, several private corporations, and the U.S. Army Missile Test site on Kwajalien Atoll, Marshall Islands. He was also employed as a pilot and aviation safety technician for the Department of Defense at Texarkana Army Depot. He returned to active duty in 1988 and retired from the Army in 1993.

After retirement, O'Hollaren was employed as a pilot and aviation safety technician at Rock Island Arsenal, Dobbins AFB and Fort McPherson, GA. His comments regarding his service in Vietnam were solicited for publication in the books Cessna Warbirds by Walt Shiel and One Day in Vietnam: A True Story of an Army Bird Dog Pilot by Gary Hook. He was a member of several aviation societies, including the International Bird Dog Association. O'Hollaren passed away from lung cancer in January 2003.