George Sumner was born and raised in Mendon, Utah. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1966. He embraced this challenge and rapidly advanced through radio operator course, jump school, and airborne training. Because of his high scores, he was recruited to rotary wing training, something that appealed to him. He graduated as a Warrant Officer Rotary Wing Aviation School in September of 1967. By November, he was on his way to Vietnam as a helicopter pilot with the 4^th Infantry Division at Pleiku.

His first day in Vietnam found him sitting in an orientation class for only a short time when the class was interrupted with an immediate call to fly north to a battle known as Dak To. Sumner’s introduction to battle came on his first day as he flew into the area to drop off supplies and pick up fallen soldiers. It was sobering and brutal. 

He became an expert in long-range reconnaissance patrol insertions and extractions. He learned that he could arrive right on top of the landing zone, then put the aircraft into a steep, spiraling, rapid drop, flaring only at the last moment to avoid some enemy fire. But he also learned that he could never avoid all of it. 

On one long range reconnaissance patrol insertion, he landed straight into an ambush. The team jumped off rapidly and immediately found themselves facing overwhelming enemy combatants. Sumner felt he had abandoned them to their deaths so despite crushing odds, he called in air suppression and immediately turned back around to go pick them up. He feels the only reason he was not shot down was because of the suppressing fire the gunships were laying down.  

After his tour was up, Sumner asked to transition to flying the large twin-rotor Chinooks and found himself returning to Vietnam to fly with the 178^th Assault Helicopter Company for another year. He recalls flying 155 mm howitzers, crew members and a sling load of ammunition out to remote areas at daybreak, then going and retrieving them at sunset. He also flew test flights on the Chinooks after they were repaired to make sure they were working well. 

When he came home after his second tour, he was told at the debarking station to “lose the uniform” because of the protestors gathered to harass the returning soldiers. He was shown a place to change into civilian clothing, noticing a large pile of discarded uniforms. But he refused to add his shirt to the pile, hiding it in the bottom of his duffel bag. However, soon he became proud to wear that shirt everywhere he went, knowing that he had served his country honorably. He became a firefighter and a Life flight EMT, still serving, still flying, to save lives. 

Sumner shared: ”There is a balance between the brutal reality of war and the honor of being a soldier. It is good for all of us to be reminded of the nobility of being a soldier.”